Pink Rebellion
by Conflee
Summary: After failing to change the Diamonds' minds, the Crystal Gems enjoy a year of peace. But Steven feels bad and wants the rest of the galaxy to know the truth about Pink. Will his message ease their minds, or will his spur of the moment additions stir something else inside them? And will Homeworld tolerate this?
1. Chapter 1: Transmission

"Ready?"

"I- Yes." He turned to the camera- Pearl was leaning around it, pulling at her jacket.

"Are you sure about this Steven? Really sure?" She looked around the room, at the walls, the floor, at Garnet. Anywhere but his eyes. "This could be- I mean this is."

"The right thing to do. You saw how Blue acted, she was worried! For thousands of years!" 'And she still turned on us.' He didn't say that out loud but.

"Didn't make much a' difference dude." Amethyst chimed in, echoing his own concerns.

"Thats, true." His head dropped for a moment. "But she was still worried sick! I know she had a more. Sort of personal relationship with Mom and all but. The rest of her court had to be upset too? Hiding the truth from then isn't right." Garnet nodded when he glanced over to her, then gave him a thumbs up.

"You got this. Just speak from the heart."

He took a deep breath, looking back to the camera. Back to Pearl. After a long moment, she finally nodded as well. 'Right. I can do this. I can do this.'

"Alright… On in three… two… One… Start."

Across the universe, terminals light up. Holograms sprung to life with no warning, no fanfare, no warning. A symbol formed that the Gems of the Empire hadn't seen in thousands of years. And the whispering started.

They had heard Pink Diamond had returned to Homeworld. There was a great deal of emphasis put on the event- and the start of Era Three as the great Diamonds had declared it. But then, nothing. An entire year had passed since then with no new word. All the Courts had been anxious, but most especially those of Pink Diamond.

So when the signal connected and the pink triple diamond symbol rose, trillions and trillions of Gems gathered, and waited. They did not have to wait long.

"Hey! My name is Steven Universe. And my Mom was Pink Diamond."

A round, dull-pink gemoid creature spoke to them, a mess of dark hair curling on it's head- it only barely looked like a gem at all! But it spoke. And it explained many, many things. It said it was half organic. That his 'mother' Pink Diamond had staged the Crystal Gem Rebellion, disguised as a simple Rose Quartz. That she had faked her own shattering, and lived on Earth for thousands of years. Before falling in love with a human, and creating this Steven with it. And passing on her gem to this Steven. Half organic. Half Diamond.

"I have her gem," it said, raising his shirt to show it. The alignment, the cut, it was undeniably her. "- but I don't have her memories- not really anyway, or personality. I'm a new being! But I'm reaching out to the Empire now to let you know. Because me and my friends have seen what Homeworld is like. And. It's all so, wrong."

In a far off sector of Gem territory, a Ruby and a Jade shared a quick nervous glance, before shooting their gaze back to the message. Even further still, all the way on Homeworld, murmurs start to spread. They had heard rumors that Pink and the other Diamonds had fought but- this was. Completely out of the norm, such a major diversion from protocol that- they could hardly believe what they heard. Neither could Pearl, but when she shot a glance at Garnet the fusion just shrugged.

"Gems should be free to do what they want! Not because you were made to do something, but because you genuinely want to! What's the point of the Empire when nobody gets to enjoy their lives? To explore themselves?" The… Steven's words rang out. In some it inspired disgust, confusion, or disbelief. In others, a small spark of recognition of the truth flared up inside.

"I'm saying this, to you all. As a 'Diamond'. What the Empire has been doing is wrong. The Empire has wronged all of you, for hundreds of thousands of years and- I'm sorry." A cluster of Amethysts and Jaspers on a space station, more familiar with humans than any other gems, noticed Steven's shudder, and understood.

"Gems everywhere feel the same. You just… need a little help to feel brave enough to say it. Which is why I'm saying it. I'm a Crystal Gem, and we aren't af-"

The transmission cut off suddenly. Several long, drawn out moments of silence followed, before returning. White. Pure, white. And she spoke. "Return to your duties."

And that was all. They were all left, glancing nervously amongst themselves. Some afraid to speak up. Others trying to mask their concerns with false bravado, proclaiming that 'Steven' creatures must be insane. Others whispered to their closer friends. Excitement, confusion, anger and- hope. It spread like wildfire over the coming weeks. And the Empire slowly ground to a halt.


	2. Chapter 2: Whatsit to a Spinel?

Steven's day had already been, well. Messy, to say the least. The days following his transmission had been quiet. Very quiet. And then they started arriving. Small groups of gems from nearby systems. A squad of Rubies who had grown closer than they 'should'- giving everyone a panic attack before they realized they weren't those Rubies. Then an Iolite, who was very shaken and terrified of Pearl at first for some reason. The Famethysts sent Skinny and Red to join them and let them know the Zoo was defecting from Homeworld too now that they had kicked Holly out. And they just. Kept. Coming.

"Steven. We need to talk." He nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around to face Garnet. Or her abdomen to be more exact. He looked up and felt himself go a little clammy. He didn't need to see her eyes. Her mouth was pressed thin, her jaw tensed slightly, and she had her hands folded together rubbing her gems subtly. Little things he had gotten accustomed to looking for. He was in trouble.

She set a hand on his shoulder, gently guiding him onto the porch. Behind them in the living room he could hear the Iolite opening up finally- apparently she used to be an interior designer. It sounded interesting but he didn't catch much beyond that as the doors slid shut behind them. He stepped up to the railing and rested his chin on it, looking out over the beach. It had becoming something of a rudimentary landing zone, since so many gems were arriving on ships- stolen or otherwise. Four ships now. They had crashed and wrecked the Hand ships for security reasons. Garnet's suggestion.

She stood next to him quietly for a long moment, knowing he was in thought. Then she spoke, her crisp voice hushed slightly so it wouldn't cary so far.

"Steven. You did a good thing, telling the universe the truth like that." She paused. "Even the truth we hadn't planned on telling them."

He gulped. It was a compliment but it didn't feel like one-

"But." There it is. "You should have talked to the rest of us about it first. Homeworld hasn't tried retaliating yet, which is good. But now that you've told gem kind to rebel against them the future has grown even more uncertain." She rested a hand on the railing, then after a moment set her other hand on top of it, returning to her nervous gem stroking. "I can't see what might happen right now. There are too many possibilities. Thousands, maybe even millions of gems debating joining us on Earth. Its too much to sift through."

He nodded slowly, starting to see where she was going with this, "So if Homeworld does attack, that possibility is buried under a lot of similar looking ones where gems are just showing up in ships to join us right?"

She nodded silently.

And stayed silent for a long time.

"You have helped a lot of gems realize the truth now though."

He looked up at her again, but she was looking back through the window to the Iolite.

"She was lead designer for a bastion palace a few solar systems over. She wasn't treated right there." Garnet's fist clenched tight, squeezing her other hand harshly for a moment. "She's safe now because of your decision."

With that, she turned and walked back inside, leaving Steven alone to his thoughts.

* * *

She trembled as she stepped through the doorway. The glittering halls around her were filled with gems all talking about the same thing. 'Steven, Steven, Steven!'. It took a lot to hold it together. Especially when she caught a faint whisper of 'Pink'. She felt her physical form tremble again, threatening to dissipate on her. 'No.' she clenched her fists tightly, holding herself together. 'I have to get to Earth. I have to... I have to know if she really...' She felt her hands start to phase through one another as they glowed faintly. She stopped, taking a moment to calm herself again. Some of the gems were looking at her now, but most weren't.

She hated them all. Other members of Pink's court all of them. But they got to live their lives free, out in the galaxy. Being useful. While she? She stood on a rock for seven thousand years. She grinded her teeth, turning through a doorway quickly, trailing a little. 'Pink built this base after she-' she stopped herself. 'Not now. Need to get to Earth. Need to get to Earth. Need. To get... To. Earth...' She climbed into the pod, tears streaming down her face. Hard to focus. Her fingers ran over the controls quickly, like she had seen so many times before.

The ship was designed for Rubies but she wasn't exactly the tallest of gems. She stretched her right arm out to activate the shields at the consol next to her. Normally by now someone should be hailing the ship, asking her for clearance to leave. Everyone was so busy talking about her though.

She slammed a fist onto the terminal, and the autopilot activated, taking off for her and angling the ship on the right vectors.

Spinel ran a hand across her face, streaking tears. Her form was shaking again, more violently now. Finally she broke down- literally. She wailed, her chest shaking as tears poured harder, curling up in the seat with her arms wrapped around herself several times over hugging her legs to her chest.

"Why Pink, why?" her voice was shaky and hoarse, fading out as her form suddenly dissipated. Her heart shaped gem fell on the seat as the ship shot off for Earth.


	3. Chapter 3: Cracked

"-the whole house kind of got destroyed but Bismuth rebuilt it for us!" Pink Diamond finished excitedly. Iolite kept her expression carefully neutral as she looked around the room. The building was constructed of wood and some primitive crude oil alloy shaped into square tiles. Other more conventional materials like marble were used for the countertops, and brass things protruded from the wooden storage units. It was all very shabby and cheap. She had to admit, the measurements were very exact though. Perfect 90 degree angles, all proportioned for the average gem height.

"It certainly has the... structural integrity I would expect from a skilled Bismuth." She laid out her words carefully, not wanting to offend her host. "Though the interior is somewhat." She paused again. "Lacking."

Her expression fell, and she felt her insides turn a little. "o-Of course, considering the materials at hand and the, unusual requirements for a human dwelling it is commendable that the design is so functional. The builder did an excellent job I'd say." She took a moment, tension building up inside her. But Pink Diamond seemed to take it in stride.

"Yea, Bismuth is more into making weapons anyway. Making cabinets and stuff is probably pretty weird for her." Iolite felt her striffnes fall away, relief washing over her.

Across the room, the Peridot's monitor starting beeping. She couldn't make out the words on the screen- not because of distance mind, Iolites had excellent vision. They had to with their duties. No, the monitor was displaying some foreign language, not Gemscript. 'Peculiar. I'll have to ask the Peridot about that later.'

"Gnnaa." The Peridot hit the side of the monitor, causing it to flicker briefly. Then she turned to Pink Diamond. "Steven, there's a ship coming into the Earth's atmosphere. Like, really fast." She felt her stomach turn again at the Peridot's lack of formality and respect. She was speaking to a Diamond after all. It just felt so, wrong. "I think it's gonna crash."

Pink Diamond stood up, "Wait what? Where?"

The Peridot shrugged, "Not sure. Let me just- Oh well they just impacted. In the woods north of the Alpha Kindergarten."

"Peridot, you go with Steven to recover the gem." Iolite felt herself pull away slightly as the fusion entered the room. 'How did it know about the ship?'

"Yea we gotta hurry, she might be hurt- is it only one gem?" Pink Diamond grabbed some sort of pack, pulling it onto her back.

The fusion looked up, quiet. It nodded. "One gem." Then it frowned. "She might attack you two, but the chances are low. If me or Pearl go the chances are higher."

"O-Oh."

"You'll do fine." The fusion gave her a thumbs up, causing Pink Diamond to stand a little taller.

"Right! Thanks Garnet!"

"W-Wait up!" The Peridot grabbed some rectangular screen and ran after Pink Diamond, jumping onto the warp pad just as it light up. And then they were gone. Leaving her with...

She glanced up at the Fusion, nearly yelping when she saw it was staring at her. Then without a word it turned and walked off.

* * *

His feet hit the ground as the warp light fell away, leaving him and Peri in the Kindergarten. But it was very different from before. A group of Quartz were using a crane to lower one of the Injectors to the ground, supervised by Bismuth. "Hey Biz!" He yelled, waving to her when she turned. He didn't walk over though- they were pretty Biz-y by the looks of it. Scrapping the Injectors would take a long time, but it would give them plenty of materials to work with in the future. Peridot had already used some of the tech to build the monitoring equipment that had detected the crashing ship. A bit of 'extra security'.

"Alright. This is going to be a bit of a walk. The crash site is about two kilometers north from here." Peridot took the lead, so Steven sped up a little to be beside her. From what he remembered a kilometer was basically a little less than a mile, so they would probably be walking for an hour. That would have exhausted him when he was younger, but after the last two years of fighting and training to fight and running away from fights, it was nothing.

"You think the gem is going to be ok?" He asked several minutes later. Silence. "Ah, Peri?"

The corner of her eye squinted slightly, but she puffed herself up a little. "Definitely! I mean it will depend a bit on what kind of gem she is but those ships are meant to be flown by Rubies." She looked over at him. Then blinked. "You know... Rubies kind of. Are known to be hot headed." Still nothing. "Their ships are expected to crash very frequently." Realization light up his face at that.

"Oh! So they are like, built really durable!"

"Mmmhm. Kind of like human vehicles. They are designed to crumple at specific points to avoid damaging vital components or the interior cockpit." She stepped over a branch, flailing a little before regaining her balance and continuing on like nothing happened. "So the ship will probably look really bad, but the gem inside should be fine as long as they aren't super soft or brittle."

"That's good."

* * *

At least, the thought he was more fit than before. Apparently his legs disagreed. His left leg had started throbbing about the time they saw the smoke plume from the wreck. And that had been twenty minutes ago. Finally though, they stepped into a small clearing, and the red ship came into sight. Peridot had been right about it looking horrible. The 'legs' were ripped free completely, and the underside of the ship- which Steven at first thought was buried- was actually crumpled and stretched across fifty feet of ground behind the ship, leaving the orb looking like it had been filed down into a dome. And it was on fire.

"You stay out here, I'll go find the gem!" Peri started to leave but he grabbed her arm. When she looked back, then at his face, he simply created a bubble around his head.

"Oh right. But if the inside is on fire-" She didn't finish that thought. Instead she turned and used her metal bending powers to pull the door off the wreck, since it was dented inward and was definitely not going to open normally. She stepped in first, quickly checking the interior and-

"Holy crap." She shot a frown back at him, before moving further in so he could follow. The inside of the ship was. A disaster. Most of the terminals were destroyed, one of the chairs was ripped out of the floor and on its side against the back wall, the other was cracked nearly in half.

"...doesn't make any sense." he heard Peri mutter.

"What?"

She jerked back to reality, slowly walking for the central terminal, all the while casting her gaze around the room. "This all doesn't make sense. The crash is worse than I expected true but based on the damage to the exterior the cockpit should be in much better condition."

He walked over to a wall, feeling the dent. Peri was right, why would the inside be dented outwards if this was from the ship crashing?

"Its like something just went off in here, like a corrupted gem or something. Tore the place up." Peri grabbed the back of the chair and swiveled it. He heard her hiss loudly.

"What is it, did you find the-" The gem. It had a very distinct shape and cut but he didn't recognize it. It was a pink- almost magenta- hue, shaped like a heart. And it was cracked. "Ooouuuu yikes that's bad. let me just-" He stuck his finger in his mouth, slobbering a bit on it as he approached the gem. 'This is never not gross.'

As he moved his hand for the gem though, it started glowing. Peridot grabbed him and pulled him back, holding his shoulder tight.

The silhouette started to take shape. A small, round shape, with bendy arms and legs and a large head with two heart-shaped pigtails. Then it twisted, growing slightly taller with spiked more hair-looking pigtails. Then again, even talled, with tall pointed boots. Finally, this was the shape that took form. She fell to the ground in front of them, shaking as her pink gloved hands gripped the floor. Then she started to stand, stamping with a dark pink boot and pushing herself up. Her boots were tall, with a 'V' shape at the cuff. Her leggings were dark, a maroon color, leading into and under her poofy billowing shorts- the same color as her boots. Her top was white, with rounded pink sleeves at the shoulders, framing her heart shaped gem, right way up. Her face looked... A little scary. With a harsh frown and gritted teeth, a furrowed brow that looked both hurt and enraged, and a single black streak under each eye running down her cheeks.

She barely spared a glance at Peri, focusing instead solely on him.

"You."

* * *

Everything faded out except for Him. The Peridot. The ships interior, marred from her rampage the last time she had taken form. The aching. All of it vanished as she locked eyes with Him.

"You." She heard her voice crack as she growled it out. She forced herself to stand up straight to stare the small gem down. Pink Diamond's son.

She felt her physical form shake again. 'Not the time for this.' Her mind raced. So many things she wanted to say to him, so many things she wanted to do to him. Her fingers twitched. She flickered her focus to the Peridot briefly. Era 2 based on what she had learned on the station. Not a threat. So back to Him. He was smiling- why...? She felt a twinge of pain again in her gem. It looked just like her smile. The pain throbbed. It looked just like that smile. Before she left. Fake.

"A-are you ok?" He stopped moving forwards when she locked eyes with him again. The fake smile fell. 'He knows I know better.' She nearly snarled.

"Oh, I'm FINE AND DANDY!" She did snarl this time, a snarl that twisted into a wide grin as her fist slammed into him. She felt the impact, she felt the softness against her new gloves. It hurt her, but not as much as she knew it hurt him. Because it meant the message was true. 'He's an organic.'

And he sailed. Through the air, out the door, and into a tree. There was a loud crack, then a creak as the tree fell.

"STEVEN!" The Peridot screamed, running after him. For a moment she felt... pain. It twisted deep in her gem. She knew she wasn't made for this. It went against her very being to be violet. But the doubts faded quickly, her grin returning in full force. Because she loved it.

She lunged forwards, one hand on either side of the door frame as she whipped into place to observe her handywork. Steven was laying there, at the base of a broken tree, encased safely in a bubble. When it popped, she heard him groan as the Peridot helped him up. Her teeth grinded.

* * *

He could hear Peri asking him something, barely, through the ringing in his ears. As his vision cleared up he could make out the shape of the ship. 'How did I get out here...?' His vision snapped back into focus. 'The gem!'

The gem in question was standing in the doorway of the pod, glaring down at them. He started to push himself to his feet, leaning on Peri for support. He caught a glance of the tree behind him- more accurately the stump of it, and shivered. If he hadn't gotten his bubble up... his spine would have snapped for sure. He gulped, turning back to the gem.

"Oh you just don't know when to STAY DOWN do you?" Everything flashed. Like something had exploded behind his eyes. Like daggers of light. White then red. Then black. He almost threw up. His vision came back slowly. The gem was standing on his gut. She must have launched herself at him. "You really should learn-" and she was gone. He blinked. And looked to his right. Peridot was standing there, her arm outstretched. Then to his left. 'Oh.'

The gem was pinned to a tree by the door of the pod, being held in place by Peridot. "HA! GOT YA!" She cheered triumphantly.

It didn't last. The gem seemed to melt almost, like she didn't have any bones- which she technically didn't since she was a gem, but most gems conformed as if they had bones. She just, slinked down, her limbs bending like noodles as she wormed her way out from behind the door. Then she coiled her body like a spring, and leapt for Peridot. Steven tried to summon his shield, but he was too hurt, he couldn't focus enough to-

The gem collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

Peridot was at his side in an instant, checking him over. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He shuddered, struggling to hold down his lunch. "Mostly fine." He whimpered quieter. He leaned against her shoulder, looking over to the hurt gem. Despite himself, he felt bad for her. She couldn't seem to regain or hold her form properly, her limbs stretched and disproportionate. Still she growled as he approached, trying to lash out at him but barely able to move her own arms at all.

"Don't touch me! I'll kill you I'll kill you I'll k- EEEEEAA!" Her face started glitching like Amethyst's had when her gem was cracked. Warping and distorting. He took a deep breath, before moving to carefully turn her over onto what he thought was her back. It was getting hard to tell.

He hissed, sucking in air through his teeth. "The crack in your gem is getting worse, stop trying to move." Surprisingly she did. It was hard to tell through the melting but she looked terrified. Maybe she hadn't noticed the crack at all? Well she did now.

"!em morf yawa teG"

He blinked. "Ah, I can't tell what you're saying. I'm gonna try to fix this though ok so just, don't kill me when I'm done please."

"Steven I don't-" His look stopped whatever protests Peri had lined up. Instead she sighed, grumbling to herself as he turned to work.

"Ok I'm gonna heal your gem now."

"-ekiL ?laeh nac uoy tiaW"

"Still can't understand you, alright here we go!" He got a good glob of spit on his hand, gently pressing it on the surface of her gem.

* * *

She wanted to yell for him to stop, for him to just leave her be. But she couldn't. She felt her tongue deflate in her mouth just like the rest of her body. Stretched, disjointed, broken. Why couldn't he see she deserved this? Why would he bother helping her? Now that her rage had melted she just felt deflated. Like her body. Empty. Useless.

Then warmth.

"- eht ni tahW" her face snapped back into place mid sentence, causing her to stumble the words out "-ghau that feels weird ow ow ow!" She felt herself string back together, recompressing. Some parts in snaps, some were slower. After a moment though, she was back to- normal. Her expression twisted at the thought. 'Normal.' No.

She shoved Steven away from her, coiling up ready to attack, or dodge, or just run, or-. Blink. Blink. She pressed her hand against the curved surface, looking around dumbly, the world tinted pink around her. She was bubbled.

"Seriously, after I just healed you?"

"We should just poof her so she can be bubbled properly." The Peridot suggested, glaring at her. She felt a flutter in her gem. 'Not again.' Then a stab of pain again. 'I deserve as much.'

"No!" Her head snapped back towards Steven at his yell. Instinctively she felt. Pulled. Which angered her. All gems were designed to follow the order. Even gems with more... free will like her. Meant to entertain. The fact that she was still pulled to follow His orders after everything Pink had done to her. She seethed in her prison, eyes set on Steven.

He exhaled. Then met her gaze. Immediately she felt bad again. She might not be intended to follow orders as much as other gems, but she was meant to make people happy. That pull was much stronger.

"Who are you?" At that she finally broke down. She'd considered. What if they don't even know me? Would Pink have even told them? Probably not. She clearly didn't mean much to her. And this proved it. No excuses left. Her vision blurred as she started to cry, before dissipating her form again for the third time today.

* * *

Peridot insisted on carrying him back to the warp pad. Not physically, but she laid him out on the door and levitated it in front of her. He wasn't sure if that was more or less exhausting than if she had just carried him normally, but it was probably more comfortable.

Above him floated the mystery gem. He had a hard time thinking about anything but her- after all she was the reason he could barely walk. But it was more than that. Something was weird about her. Most fights he had seen didn't end with someone poofing for no reason.

"Hey Peri?"

"Ah!" She cleared her throat "I mean ah. Yes?"

"Why did the gem poof without us hitting her?" He looked over his shoulder awkwardly at her. "I've... never seen a gem do that."

She didn't say anything for a while, instead she focused on the bubbled gem. "Steven, you know how gem bodies are just hard light projections right? Well there are a... lot of things that can disrupt that body. The most common is physical injury. Taking significant physical damage forces a gem to retreat back into her gem to heal and reform."

"Mhm."

She sighed, "Well. Sometimes when gems... experience very intense emotions, it can cause the same thing. Usually gems can hold themselves together if the emotion isn't a negative one- Rubies are known to poof from excitement which is an exception to the norm. But... Negative emotions make it very difficult to hold your form." She wasn't focused on him or the gem anymore, just looking into the sky lost in thought. "I almost dissipated when Lapis left. Peridots are tough gems though, and that extends to emotional poofing." She smiled down at him, "Plus I had a little help."

"Yea." It was a bittersweet memory for him, especially with this new information. He felt a weight in his chest as he looked back up to the bubbled gem. "So she..."

Peridot's mouth twisted in thought, "Mmm. Yea. It might have been rage but it would have to be really intense. It's more likely she poofed from sadness." She let out a shaky breath, "Almost makes me feel bad for kicking her butt, but. She did kick the crap out of you."

Amethyst had been teaching Peri new words- Pearl was going to be mad about that. Still he chuckled.

He kept thinking about the gem though. He wondered how he could help her.


	4. Chapter 4: Reformed

"WHAT!?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Just. Sore." Pearl, of course, had to be certain he was actually fine. She checked his arms and legs, listened to his heart beat, checked his eyes with a light, took his temperature for some reason. Eventually she stepped back, leaving him to sit on the sofa.

"Mmm. Alright... Well. We should send the bubble to Garnet's r-"

"No!" her back straightened slightly at his yell, staring at him for a long moment. Blink. "Uhhhhfff. Look Peridot told me what her... self poofing means. I don't think she meant to hurt me." He stopped himself, remembering the look in her eyes. "Ok maybe she meant to hurt me- but she's hurt!"

"Well we can't just let her out! She'll attack you again!"

Swwwwwshhhhh. The Temple Door opened and out walked Garnet, followed by Red, Skinny, and Amethyst.

"Yo wuddup Steven. This the new gem Garnet was talkin' about?" She said, jumping up to grab the bubble and landing on the coffee table with a thunk.

"Pearl, you have something to say." She didn't really ask. Which meant...

"Well. Yes..." She was wringing her hands, glancing between Steven and the bubbled gem. "I... Know this gem."

"Wow you do?" Amethyst piped up just a second before Steven.

"Who is she?"

She sat down on the sofa, crossing her legs as she stared at the gem solely now. "She's a Spinel. Pink's Spinel." He felt anxious. 'Another one of Mom's mistakes.' "She was made to be a playmate, since Pink was so... rambunctious. It wasn't proper to act how she did on Homeworld so the Diamonds made her her own island and gave her Spinel. Somewhere she could expend her energy with someone who would never get tired of goofing off. I haven't seen her in... seven thousand years at least though. Since Pink was given Earth."

Her brow furrowed as her stare became distant. "Why would she attack Steven?"

"Weeeeell. Why don't we just ask her?"

That brought Pearl back to Earth in a flash, "No no no no no! Absolutely not! Whatever her reasons she's clearly dangerous!" She tensed up. Garnet put a hand on her shoulder and took the bubble from Amethyst, who didn't even try to protest.

"Get ready." The others figuring out what she was doing quick, and stood up to face the sofa as Garnet popped the bubble and let the heart shaped gem land on the cushions. Even Red and Skinny, quiet as they had been, stood ready to fight.

Seconds went by. Five, then ten, then fifteen before the gem rose and started to glow. A silhouette appeared, cycling through three forms before settling on the forth.

* * *

She was in the white void for so long. She could... feel herself being held in her gem by a bubble. She... really did not need time to think. She did not want time to think. She had plenty though.

She couldn't cry in here. Not really. But she felt like it. For the longest time her form was just a vague shape. Head, torso, arms and legs. She didn't try to shape it, or solidify it. She didn't want to think about what she looked like right now.

'Why... Pink... Why did you leave me? What did I do...?' Her form darkened, growing hazier. 'Didn't I make you happy? Didn't I make you laugh? Or was it all fake. Like that smile...' That cut deep. Part of her knew this wasn't healthy. She was made to make people happy, to help with emotional pain. But knowing she had to didn't make it any easier to let go.

She... She must have failed somehow. Obviously she had. There was no other reason for Pink to leave like she had. No other reason for her to never come back. Never send someone for her. It was a punishment. For failing to make her happy... It was the only thing that made sense. She felt herself thin and fade, and forced herself to reform into. Something. Just a shape for now.

So she had... failed. That thought hurt, but at least she could make sense of it. Rationalize it. She hadn't been attentive enough. She'd failed to take note of Pink's needs somehow. She'd missed something. But... what? Pink had seemed so happy when she was given Earth- genuinely happy. Maybe... Pink just realized Earth would give her more joy than her. That... could make sense. She was given to her Diamond to take her mind off of colonizing after all. So when Pink no longer... needed... her for that... She...

But then that wouldn't be her fault. No she had to be wrong. Something else. She was missing something else... She wouldn't have been punished if she hadn't made a mistake.

She couldn't figure it out. Nothing she remembered was... right. So she gave up, resigned to just drift for a while.

Her mind inevitably drifted back to the transmission. That had been what started all this- no. Being left behind was. But it was what set things into motion again for the first time in thousands of years. Learning Pink was gone... had hurt. But not as much as learning how much she had done after leaving her. That she hadn't in thousands of years thought to come back to her. To... let her go. Anything. Instead she found... new friends. Made a... son.

A kernal of anger rose in her as she thought about Steven. His fake smile. How he took Pink away from her.

No... Pink had thousands of years. She wasn't going to come back. Steven or no.

'Whatever I did... I made her stop caring... about me.'

She thought back to the transmission again. 'But she did care... about him.'

Before she could process the thought, she felt her binds suddenly snap away. She was free- She was reforming. She hadn't picked a form yet.

Hastily, she forced herself back into shape. Her shape. Long lanky arms and legs, her rounded face and eyes, her coloration. Most of it came naturally. Some of it she struggled with. Her hair... She gritted her teeth as they formed. A ponytail. Never going back to pigtails. Too much like Pink's old Pearl. Her shorts? Ah. Looser. Sure. She kept the boots as well. And- Fingerless gloves. She barely got that final detail in before she started to form out of her gem.

'If she cared about him.' she thought. 'Maybe this is a second chance. I won't fail again.'

* * *

She stumbled, barely catching herself on the edge of something wooden- a table? She looked down at her own hands. And her legs. The leggings were dark- she hadn't planned that but... She liked it. She felt shorter though, even with the boots. 'Mmm.'

"Ahhm." her head jerked up at the noise. She was surrounded. Quartzes- and-

She felt herself start to shake a little. Him. Instinctively she tried to retreat, thoughts of redemption scattered momentarily. The back of her knees bumped into something soft and she fell backwards with a yelp- landing on some sort of soft seat. It took her a moment to process. Then she locked eyes with Him again. He... was discolored around his left eye where she'd hit him. There was that twisting in her gem again.

"Sooo bit of a rough start but you're not the first gem to try to kill me as soon as they met me... Not by a long shot... Sooo don't try again and we good?" The inflection made it sound like a joke but.. she couldn't be sure. So she took it literally.

"Right- s-" The apology caught in her throat. Seeing Him made her hurt. He was too much like Pink. She forced herself to ignore that though. Focus on something else. Black eyes. Good enough. "Ehha. Sorry. I was... caught at a bad time..." The excuse felt hollow but he seemed to accept it.

"Well. I'm Steven. This is Garnet-" The indicated gem was tall and fierce looking- and a fusion. That was... odd. If they were fused then they must have expected her to attack Steven again which made sense. "-Amethyst,-" This gem was short. Too short, with messy purple hair and... torn? Clothes? Why would she form her outfit to look damaged? It made no sense.

"Sup." Was all she got from her either way.

"-Pearl." Her eyes widened. Her Pearl. The glare she received was withering to say the least. If she was serving Steven then that meant... Pink had taken her with her. She felt resentment well up for a moment. She had to force it back down. 'I'm the one who failed. I didn't deserve to be taken with Pink.' she reminded herself.

"Aaaand this is Red and Skinny! That's everyone thats here, there's a lot of other gems around though. They just keep showing up ever since my transmission."

"R-right."

* * *

Garnet didn't look impressed. She never did though really. Pearl still seemed to be on edge. He... Didn't know what to think about her yet. She looked tense, but she had attacked him and was now surrounded by gems so. She had every reason to be.

"You wanna... Walk? With me?"

"No, absolutely not Steven she tried to kill you." Pearl's protests rose like clockwork, predictably. He looked past her, to Garnet. Even she didn't look happy about his suggestion. But no- this was the right thing to do. So he doubled down, and held out a hand for her.

"If you want. If not you don't have to, I just figured you'd be more com-" She grabbed his hand. He heard Pearl shift her footing reflexively, ready for an attack. But one never came. Spinel just stared at their hands for a long moment before silently nodding and standing, her eyes wide.

He took a deep breath and put on a smile. It was a start.


	5. Chapter 5: Rebellion

Spinel walked alongside him, still gripping his hand and swinging her arm as they made their way down the beach and onto the boardwalk. She... seemed happier. Her smile looked a little forced though. 'I need to talk to her.'

"So ah. Pearl said you were like an entertainer? That's cool. I didn't know gems did that outside like Pearls sometimes." He'd tried to phrase it delicately but even still she seemed to stiffen up.

"Oh yea Eha. There's lotsa gems who need cheering up. Mostly sorta aristocratic gems who have the free time for it. But... Spinels aren't too common. I've only ever seen one other than me." Her voice cracked near the end, so he decided to change the topic.

"That's cool. So what do you like to do normally? There's a lot of stuff in Beach City- well no there's not really but there's stuff. There's the Big Donut- Sadie and Lars work there, and there's the library which is great but they don't like how loud I get, and there's the arcade and Funland which are filled with like games and amusement park rides, and-"

"Games?" she interrupted, looking over at him. 'Bingo.'

He felt a smile split his face "Oh yea there all kinds of game booths, a lot of them are two player too! There's Text and Drive where you have to text things to someone while racing! There's Meat Beat Mania- Garnet loved that one. Plus a bunch of physical games like Skee Ball and the Claw machines! You'll definitely find something fun! Come on!"

* * *

She tightened her grip as he raced off for this 'arcade', quickly chasing after him. It sounded fun- so many games, with a specific building for them all? But more than that, that smile. A real smile, the first she had seen in so long. She didn't realize it but she was smiling too as they ran along the boardwalk, narrowly avoiding clotheslining several people.

Everything was so. Attention-grabbing to her as they ran. So alien compared to the Garden. She smelled salt and a faint hint of dust but no floral scents. The boardwalk, built of wood for some reason, creaked with every impact from her boots. The sky was crisp and blue, reflecting like a mirror off the ocean's surface. And the noise. Everywhere people were chattering, machines were whirring and whining, in the distance some large construct of loops and tracks whipped a cart of people around a bend with a howl and grind. There was just, so much to see, so much to focus on. Too much.

She focused instead on Steven again, as he pulled her into one of the buildings. 'I don't... understand.' Why was he giving her a second chance here? Why was he when Pink didn't? She'd never tried to hurt Pink, let alone kill her. Was what she did somehow worse than that? Or maybe Steven didn't realize she had meant to kill him? Or...

"Alright what do you wanna try first?"

Blink. She realized Steven had been looking to her, expecting... something while she had been spacing out. Slowly she looked around the room, the Arcade she guessed. The walls were lined with boxes with screens, all decorated with flashing bright lights with some Earth script on them. One wall had some strange slopes with holes at the top that several humans were trying to roll balls into. She also saw what might have been the 'claw machines'. They had a claw on them anyway. She couldn't really... Her eyes flitted back and forth all around the arcade. So many more sounds, ringing bells and chirping music, explosions and grinding and buzzing and the lights all different colors and people running around and laughing and yelling and-

"Ah? Spinel? You ok?"

She snapped back into focus again, giving him a shaky grin "Aheh yea just. Donno what anything is." She steadied herself, forcing a chuckle "Lotsa lights though! Whatever you're wantin' to play'll be great!"

"Ok ok so, lets tryyyyyy Text and Drive! It's a racing game so you just need to try to stay in first right but you can earn points by sending messages but if you crash you have to file an insurance report and go through the pitstop minigame where you fix your car and the AI is like really tough so you have to send messages you can't just win by getting first-" She didn't understand that game at all. She was good at driving but Steven kept saying you have to type actual messages and not just random stuff.

"I can't read Earth script."

"o-oh. Ok no that's fine yea I should have asked first sorry! Well let's see what can you do without reading... OH! Chrono Panic 4! You play as a secret agent in a time travel shootout! Just take this gun and shoot the bad guys! But don't shoot the janitors or you anger the labor union and it's a whole thing." She wasn't much better at that game either, but that might have been because she kept stealing glances over at Steven. Every time they cleared a room, or beat a boss, he light up. And every time they lost, he still looked excited. She couldn't help but watch.

* * *

**Meanwhile, on Homeworld...**

She read the message over again, eyes wide. 'They can't be serious?' But no. She knew they were. 'You idiots.'

Red Flint could barely believe them. Sending out a message like- like this? Over open channels? Their plan was stupid enough but she-

She was fuming again. So she calmed herself. A cloud of dust-like particles drifted from her head and dissipated. At ease. Calm. 'I can fix this.'

So she set out for the port. Security was heightened on Homeworld- in theory. If you actually got stopped you were likely to be hounded for hours about where you were going and what you were doing. But with so many gems just. Giving up their duties. Falling into what she could only assume was some shock-based lapse in drive well. You weren't all that likely to be stopped. Security Robinoids hovered about major intersections like hornets, keeping track of who went where at what time, but no efforts were made to impede anyone.

Whispers of treason had been abound ever since Pink Diamond's transmission. How could they not be? Her entire court had been effectively dismissed, with the implication that all the rest had as well- as if Pink had that authority... Did she? Nobody knew. White Diamond seemed to think not. But. It was devastating for gem kind. Her and the other Warm Flints had been working double- no even triple time trying to console everyone. Reactions varied dramatically from.. joy, excitement, pure terror and depression. Pink's wording may have evoked freedom and liberty but to the vast majority of gem kind such things were synonymous with uselessness. A lack of purpose, no reason to exist. No motivation or drive. Being dismissed was considered the harshest punishment the Empire had, even above being Shattered and Harvested. In those cases a gem died at least knowing they had some use. Some value. Repurposed for the next generation of gemkind. Dismissal... it was...

Some refused to accept it. Many took White's words to be an overruling of their own Diamond's orders. So they continued to work. She continued to work. Others still tried to forge out on their own. Arguing that Pink hadn't dismissed them, just given them the vague task of finding their own duties. New duties beyond what they were made for. Which was absurd, obviously. That talk would get them dismissed for real.

Most were smart enough to keep such thoughts to themselves, or limited to just a Flint as it were. Apparently not all of them were.

Apparently a lot of them in fact. She stood on the ledge looking down to the assembled mass in disbelief. There had to be easily a hundred, maybe two hundred gems here. Rebelling. She felt the dust from her head start to grow denser. So much negative energy here. In one place. It nearly made her cry. 'So many... We've failed so many...' She pushed those thoughts down. 'No. I can help them. I have to.' Her coding kicked in then. She knew she needed to find the ring leaders. If she could talk to them, ease their pain and make them give up this folly then the rest would follow. She would need more Flints for this. Surely more had to know what was going on? More would come. She had to believe.

She pushed through the crowd, searching. She had to be here. The gem who sent the message, she had to be here. She asked around, being pointed further to the center of the gathering and- There.

Up, standing on a slab of stone, was the leader. A Strawberry Calcite. It was the last thing she expected, but the more she considered, it made some sense. They were cheerful gems, with a similar purpose to her own actually. Soothing mental pain. They were cheerful and warm and always incredibly positive. 'But why would she do this?'

"You!" She called out over the crowd, turning heads as she pushed towards the Calcite. "What are you doing?"

The Calcite looked down at her, before smiling and hopping off her stone to stand eye-to-eye with her. "What do you mean?"

"What do I- What do you mean what do I mean? Look at this!" she stammered back, nearly spitting the words out.

The Calcite did. Still smiling. "I know, it's great right?"

"GREAT!? You call THIS great? This is a disaster!"

"A disaster? Sister are we seein' the same thing here? Cause I'm seein' a crowd of gems finally living their lives! Finally ready to move on and be happy!"

"Ba- wh- You- What?!"

The Calcite tried to grab her shoulder but she pulled away, barely resisting the urge to deck the big idiot. The dust was fuming off her head now, a dark red cloud.

"THIS is not good! You should know that better than most! Look at them! They are terrified, they feel lost and alone! It's OUR job to fix that!"

The Calcite's smile faded, replaced by a look of pure... Determination, and understanding. "I am fixing that. You need to open your eyes sister. Look a little beyond the here and now."

"Y-"

"Think of it like this." She just ran over her, not letter her get a word in. "All these gems, they hurt. They hurt so bad right now. And sister- I get it. I'm pretty rough under all this too ya know? But slappin' a bandaid on it ain't gonna fix nothin'. Convincin' them to just get back to work ain't gonna fix nothin'. Goin' back to how things were.-" She trailed off, letting her finish the thought in her own head.

'Isn't going to fix anything...' No, she was wrong. "Gems find comfort through duty! If you take that away from them what else will they have?"

"They got each other!"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came to her. The argument was... Flimsy. Barely even held together by hope. Pathetically optimistic. Exactly what she expected from a Strawberry Calcite. But still. It was hard to resist the purity of it all. It felt right even though she knew it was wrong. So she tried a different angle.

"They won't let you all leave like this." She said in more hushed tones. "Even... Even if I accept what you're saying as right- which I don't. They won't let you get off world. You are just going to get them all shattered."

"Maybe. Maybe not. We ain't ever had a better chance than now though, with Homeworld how it is. These gems have been wanting to be free for so long, to figure this out for themselves. Even before Steven's message. They were just too scared to talk about it to anyone but me- to us."

She started fidgeting with her sleeve. 'No. No... Gems expressed doubts often- their duty was hard sure but always rewarding. They just... needed to be helped back on the right path. It was what they all wanted really, deep down... Right? Wasn't it.. It...'

The Calcite reached out again, and this time she let her. "Hey." She looked up to meet her eyes. She had to sense her own doubts now. "You could come with us. These gems... I'm doin' my best but they are hurtin'. They could use a good Warm Flint to ease the tr-"

She stopped, and it took Flint a moment to figure out why. Then she heard it, a deep droning sound drew closer. Got louder. Until it appeared. A green Hand Ship, flanked by two small Frigates.

"Is that... your ride?" She knew the answer already. It was confirmed when their weapon systems started to heat up.


	6. Chapter 6: Freedom

The sun was resting on the horizon by the time they left the arcade, casting their shadows long in front of them as they walked back down the boardwalk to the Temple. He had candy stuffed in his pocket, and a slappy hand in his right fist. Spinel trotted along on his left, one hand grasping his, the other arm wrapped three times over around a purple stuffed giraffe. She'd been just barely short for it, but he'd let her use a couple of his tickets so it worked out- he had enough Funland toys piled in boxes in his room from over the years anyway- most of it broken. The way her eyes had light up when she saw the giraffe, how could he not?

"So ah, what're you gonna name it?" He glanced to her out the corner of his eye. She just tilted her head though.

"Name it? Like a nickname or..?"

"Yea! Most people give their stuffed animals names."

She seemed to like that for some reason, though she took a minute, pondering dramatically as she stroked her chin with an elongated finger from her left hand.

"Mmmmhmmmmmmmm... I think I'll call her. Stumpy!"

He snorted, which spiraled into a laugh rapidly.

"Aaaah you get it!" she said with a cheeky grin.

He shook his head lightly, finally stemming his laughter. "Yea I get it. Though honestly it's kind of accurate." He added.

"Whuddaya mean?"

"Your ironic name choice is ironically accurate- real giraffes are like super tall! Taller than these buildings! So Stumpy here is a little stumpy."

She stared up at one of the buildings as they passed like she was trying to imagine it, mouth slightly agape. "Earth is so weird."

"Hah- yea, it is. But you're the one who came here by choice- I was just born here."

"Who does that make the weirdest then?" She asked in a more subdued tone.

They stayed silent for a long moment, before Steven finally worked up the courage to ask. "Hey, Spinel?"

Silence.

"Um... I'm... sorry if this is maybe a touchy subject but.. you seem so nice. Why did you... attack me on the ship?"

Not a word. "Y-you don't have to talk about it if you don't wan't, sorry for-"

He heard a sniffle, then she slowly pressed her face into Stumby with a faint honk, her walk slowing. He didn't know if- should he apologize again or-

Then a muffled murmur, "...Pink. S-She..." Another long moment of silence.

They passed the Big Donut, then out onto the sand like that. Then he stopped and just, wrapped his left arm around her shoulders to pull her in for a side-hug. "Today was great, ok? I'm sorry I asked about that. You don't have to talk about it ever if you don't want. But.. If you ever do want to, I'm always here right?"

Her shoulders shook, but she nodded her head.

He took a breath, before guiding her onwards towards the Temple again. "Come on, let's find somewhere for you and Stumpy to stay."

* * *

By the time they made their way up the stairs, Spinel seemed to have been doing better. He was still all twisted up though, he felt awful for bringing the ship up now. He should have figured it wasn't going to be for happy reasons and just let it be for the day but... No undoing it now.

The front door slid open with a faint Swwwwhhhh as he stepped up to it- another of the many uses for the parts Bismuth and Peridot had been scavenging. Inside the Crystal Gems were gathered around another one- a receiver.

Peridot looked up from her work... tuning? the receiver, honing in on Spinel immediately. "AH!" She flopped backwards from her perched position on the coffee table with an audible thud, before shooting back up in an instant like nothing happened. "I mean ahhh hello! I guess Garnet was right, you aren't trying to kill him anymore!"

Spinel looked up at her, but Peri was oblivious to both her expression and Steven's gesturing to stop.

"That's a really quick turn around, even for you Steven! It took me- what maybe a month or two to stop trying to kill you?"

Bismuth put a hand on her shoulder, smirking "Two months? Only took me about two days."

"Ehahahhuuu..." He nervously laughed, "Yea don't feel too bad, it's... kind of a thing with me for some reason." he murmured to Spinel.

Her arm constricted slightly around his own, but she stood up a little taller so he guessed it had helped. He decided to change the subject anyway.

"So, is it... working?"

Peridot's shoulders rose and fell noncommittally "Ehh it's a little so-so. It's mostly just garbage noise from background radiation but we are getting unintelligible snippets sometimes. Amethyst had an antenna in her room, so she's putting that up right now."

On cue, a yell came from outside, followed by a loud thunk.

"Ah, here she comes now!"

Amethyst stumbled inside, shaking her head and trailing a cord behind her which she handed over to Peri, grumbling the whole time. "This had better work, I don't like my junk being used!"

"Yes well it's for a good cause, assuming this actually works." Peri connected the cord, and waited. Then got impatient and started tuning the device again. "Come on why don't you work you infernal piece of crap-" As her palm slapped against the side, it buzzed to life, pouring audio.

"-alling on all channels, our vessel has been shot down o- ... -ystem, they are shatterin- ... -resistance-..." It was like an ice cube had been dropped down the back of his shirt. The room was silent save for the static from the receiver. Crackling.

* * *

**On Homeworld.**

"Is that... your ride?"

The gathering was deathly silent. Not a murmur escaped anyone's mouth. Not a rustle of garment or scrapping of foot on stone. Nothing but the dronning hum of the ships that hung over them all like an axe. Then a faint glow as the frigates weapon systems readied to strike them all down. Now the crowd did move, some slowly inching away from the ships, not daring to look away. Others frozen still in place or looking for a Sapphire for guidance.

After what felt like an eternity, even to the long-lived gems whos concept of time was as skewed as it was, a holo display flickered to life in the palm of the Hand Ship.

A large green square light up the crowd and from that vantage a fierce gem loomed over them all. She was an Emerald, with wild spiked hair and a jagged yellow band zig-zagging across her brow, her gem displayed distinctly where her right eye should have been. She glowered down at the gathering, her upper lip curled into a look of pure distaste.

"You will all return to your duties, or I will open fire!" Her voice was almost shrill, but booming nonetheless, her brow cutting lower in her expression at the returned silence.

"Are you all defective? Return to your duties!"

"We ain't goin' nowhere sister!"

Red Flint stumbled she spun to face Strawberry Calcite so fast. The speed, or just the sense of weight on her then she didn't know, but she felt. Her hands were shaking. Her legs were unstable. She-

"No.." She didn't realize she had said it until Calcite looked down to her. But the response was just a broad, reassuring grin. The larger gem turned back to the Holo Display, stepping up proudly onto the stone slab once more to face Emerald.

"This is our chance to live a new life! A better one! We ain't gonna step down and let some bully get in the way of that!"

"Tsk. Is that so? She speaks for you all then?" the voice dripped with venom, but the assembled gems were emboldened by their leader's words. A general shout of support went out, picking up volume and intensity as more and more voices joined in. It left a lump in Flint's throat, but she couldn't stop shaking. 'I have to stop them- I can.. I should- talk to Emerald, maybe she-'

"Mmm. What a shame." With a flick of her wrist, the unleashed fire. The ground exploded as lasers cut through stone and dissipated gems by the dozens. The display stayed up just long enough for Flint to glimpse a satisfied smile from Emerald, before the Hand Ship turned over and readied its own weaponry.

'I can talk to her I- I can... I can talk to her I can- I-..'

"MOVE!" the next thing she knew she was on the ground. She tried to push herself back up but her hands were trembling still. A hand grabbed her shoulder, pulling her upright gently. She looked up. 'Where...' Calcite was standing in front of her. her head rang as explosions continued to hammer the port outside. "..a hold of yourself! Flint!"

She jumped at her name, suddenly pulled back into the present- she shook her head, trying to think. "We-we- I can... negotiate, she's made her point surely she-"

But Calcite just shook her head grimmly.

Outside, the steady drumming of fire slowed, and stopped, the silence was vacuous compared to before. Outside she could see... so many fallen gems. At least thirty were poofed, with at least four that she could see with significant cracking. Something rolled in disgust inside her at the sight of so much... pain.

She felt... so much pain and fear, everywhere around her. Radiating from the surviving gems, all clustered under the overhang, sheltering from the storm. And even stronger from...

"C-Calcite...?" she was distant, panning across the devastation outside. Flint reached out, trying to hold her arm, something, but. It burned almost. Too many negative feelings for her to touch, let alone read from the gem. Her hand flinched away reflexively, but she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to push on. And take her arm.

She barely reacted at all. But after a long moment, she did finally turn. She flared up at the sight of so many scared gems. Then.. Something else. Something oddly... tranquil? Flint could see it behind her eyes. Her brow creased. Her hands tightened into fists. And she spoke.

"Gems!" her audience was captive. "I'm going up top, gonna draw their attention." More muted tones. A calm mask of rationality masking insanity. "Those of you that are fast, if you can... Try to recover as many out there as you can and run."

The protests came instantly. They were inevitable, who would risk their life for- "We can't just run!" "What about you?" "She'll shatter you!" "No, I'm not staying on this planet." "We can take her!" "I'm coming with you."

The last one turned a few heads, as the roar died down once more. It came from perhaps an expected source. A small Ruby. The sentiment was soon echoed by others however.

Flint could feel conflicted emotions from Calcite and realized she was still holding her arm. So she let go, coughing quietly. Then the larger gem started chuckling. A deep, hoarse sound.

"You all... We'll have another shot at this. Aight? You'll find someone else willing to lead you all. There's plenty capable here with us." she turned just barely, panning over the fallen gems outside again. "But right now priority is gettin' them outta here. If Homeworld collects them they'll be shattered." There it was. In the open. Their fears laid bare. But she pushed on, "I'll be a distraction alright? Y'all live to fight another day. I put you all in enough magma here today."

The roar of disagreement was too loud for her to even make out more than snippets of words. She felt herself tearing up- despite it all they... They refused to just leave? Were they idiots... No. No, she couldn't think of them like that now. Whatever compelled them though, it was strong. Even Calcite crumbled against it.

"Fine... Fine! But I'm only bringing a small group. As soon as the gems out there are cleared, or slags getting too dicy, we leg it, clear?"

So the plan was set in motion. Emerald's taunts from above building even stronger resentment in the- Rebels. This plan... Acting on it made them officially rebels now.

"Oi! Big girl! Down here!" Calcite's voice boomed across the port, bouncing off sheer walls and echoing far. By now, gems had begun to cautiously peer out windows, gather on far off walkways to get a view of everything. They whispered of her. Of the rebel. Some with contempt. Other...

Emerald's Hand Ship turned to face her then, a nasty smile carving her face. "Come to surrender then, defect?"

Flint peaked up at the ship, before nodding to the gems gathered behind her. On her queue they rushed out, scampering over broken stone and burning slag, hastily grabbing any gem they could get their hands on. It was hot, and the sharp jagged stone cut at them, leaving long scrapes and soot stains on them as they worked.

"Yes! That is exactly it! But.. we gotta negotiate the terms ya hear?" Came Calcite's response from above.

Come on... faster. Have... to get them all...

"Terms? Ohohhohoho that's a good one! The only surrender I'm accepting is unconditional! Orders from my Diamond herself!"

She came to a pile of rubble, stifling a cry. A gem was there, pinned under a large stone- nearly cracked in two. 'Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it...' repeated over and over in her head. She lifted the rock, straining to pull the gem free. Finally it slipped out, she carefully tucked it into her pocket, careful to keep the two halves from pulling apart too far. 'Don't think about it...'

There was an intense heat. A flash above her just as the cry rang out. Time seemed to stop. She turned. A hole was searing through the balustrade above. Calcite was kneeling- had she been- she'd been shot, no, no, no- "NO!"

She slapped a hand over her mouth. 'Oh no.'

"Huh?" the hand ship tilted, leaving the rescue party, all frozen in place in fear, in plain sight. Emerald stared. And she shook. A fury built up inside her, stoked by the sight. Of deception. "YOU! TRIED TO TRICK ME?"

"Run!" So they did. They took the gems they had and bolted for the overhang once more, not even processing where the cry had come from. There was no time to, as the world began to erupt around them once more.

There was an intense heat.

And then there was darkness.

* * *

She started to reform almost immediately, barely having a moment in the void to process that she had been dissipated- Flints were always quick to reform. She saw the sky. Through curtains of smoke and fire she saw it. Past buildings of impossible height, it was beautiful. All around her the gems she had gathered lay. Thrown astray by her dissipation.

She grabbed for them, desperately clawing at the ground, and pulling them close, shapeshifting a new pocket on the front of her dress for them. The ringing in her head was reinvigorated over and over before it could fade. Beyond her sight, explosions continued to crash into the ground, and onto the rooftop. Her body fell onto a sloped chunk of concrete, pushed from the ground by the laserfire. It was hot but she barely noticed as the Hand Ship filled her eyes, casting a sickly green tinted light over the scene.

She knew she was going to die then. 'Why did I come here today... Why did... Why did I have to...? I could be anywhere else... why here...?'

Her eyes closed to block out what was coming. Her whole body shook, trembled. Warm tears trailed down her cheeks. There was an explosion and she flinched away, crying out.

But she didn't die. She didn't dissipate. She felt the heat wash over her, and past her. A loud grinding sound tore the air from behind her, but there was still a hum above. Her eyes fluttered open then. 'How?'

Far above, gleaming in the light, framed by plumes of smoke, hovered a ship. A saucer shape- a Dropship. She forced herself up, burning her hand as she gripped the slab of hot stone she had been laying against for support. Behind her, Emerald's Hand Ship was smoking at the end of a long carved trench, driven to the ground. One of the frigates fired vainly at the Dropship, but was swatted down with a single blast, sending the second fleeing.

"FLIIIIIIINT!" Through the haze, she saw the big pink gem stumbling out towards her. A Ruby gem clutched in her hand.

"... Calcite...?" She slurred out, her hair blown into her face as the Dropship settled to the ground. The other gems followed, pouring out of the building, or rushing back from where they had been thrown across the port, fallen gems clenched in fists or rolled up in shirts. Of the initial two hundred only half that number still stood with physical form. The hundred moved towards the Dropship to meet their saviors as the door slid open. Two Nephrites poked out, gesturing for them to hurry inside. So they ran. Not away, not to hide, not in fear. They ran to a new future. Injured in hand, alongside Calcite. Red Flint ran into the Dropship.


	7. Chapter 7: Retribution

She moved down the halls, gliding across the smooth glistening stone through throngs of gems. So many gems. They were terrified, all for different reasons. Many lacked purpose. Some had found a new one. She took note of several gems clustered together, whispering quietly.

Checkpoints lined the halls, impeding the more suspect gatherings in theory. In practice most of the gems running the checkpoints were equally conflicted, and the sight of her terrified them despite her diminutive stature. Her billowing foggy dress, wispy hair concealing her eye, pale skin. It was unthinkable to stand in the way of one of White Diamond's gems, even- or perhaps especially- in a time like this. Her expression was neutral, but she wanted to smile. She counted on as much.

You would be hard pressed to find another sapphire risking the open walkways of Homeworld the last few weeks. With gem society in the state that it was, future vision was unreliable to say the least. For most. White Sapphire continued her weaving path, slipping between pacing quartz and fuming peridots, marching rubies and anxious jades. Her sight was perfectly suited for this, impeccably able to navigate the chaos of the moment for as long as she had a clear objective. Nothing would get between her and the spaceport.

The trek was long and gave the small gem a great deal of time to think. She analyzed every possible outcome of her task, deciding the exact trajectory that she deemed fate would take. They could not afford any other outcome. Anything less than perfection would see them all shattered or worse. They were counting on her.

Finally though, she approached. The courtyard was vast, flanked by gleaming dark purple pillars leaning away from the port at 30 degree angles, all lined with striking white windows. Walkways and arches jutting from the slopes lined with occasional clusters of gems, occasionally longer rams were extended out to connect to a gravlocked ship to allow access. Despite the ports size though, the number of ships docked here were few. Down bellow on the ground level, it was easy to see why. The ground was stricken and charred, with deep gashed violently carved through the once pristine stones. The elegant and carefully planned patterns and displays of color transitions, all having stood for thousands of years, were ruined now and needed to be redesigned and built.

An eerie green hue tinted the ground, cast down from the ship that caused all of this. The triumphant warship of Emerald. A green hand hanging over the port as if ready to crush it all over again. She gritted her teeth, brushing her bangs off her face to get a good look at the warship. She couldn't foresee anything now before she entered the ship. It was too empty. Too calm. So she relied now on her physical sight, making her way to the right and up a series of ramps bringing her closer and closer to her mark.

She saw herself stepping into the command deck. The guards would try to stop her. Emerald or her lieutenant would wave them off. The rest snapped into place and destiny was sealed in her mind. So she stepped up onto the final ramp into the Hand Ship.

* * *

The last few days had been wonderful. A wide grin split her green face as she leaned back in her chair, rubbing the deep grooves carved into the plasteel armrests. Behind her her crew bickered and bantered, jeering and mocking the weak rebel and celebrating their great victory. Their great. Tarnished. Victory. She gritted her teeth, dragging her nails down the armrests to ease herself. No. A it was a victory, and a good one. Even if some of the survivors had fled, it still painted Homeworld in a good light. Strong and unbending. A good victory indeed.

Her Diamond, the magnificent Yellow, had already commended her for her ruthless and efficient handling of the situation and that was all the praise she needed. She felt a twang at that lie. No. Perhaps all she needed, but she longed for more. She had performed perfectly, leapt to action where others had hesitated like weak willed fools. And furthermore, she wanted to crush them fully. Their escape was hardly a concern for Homeworld, but she wanted them to suffer. Their mocking, pathetic attempts to negotiate with her. Like they were equals. Disgusting.

She looked down at her hands, admiring the new trench dug into the armrest, flicking the plasteel out of her nails. Whatever her Diamond's reasoning for refusing her request to pursue the rebels, it was surely a good one. So she would wait, and bide her time until their next mission. Reveling above the scars of their victory.

"Hey, you can't come in here- hey stop!"

She frowned as that shout caught her attention, swiveling in her chair to inspect the situation. 'Oh.' She felt herself grip her chair again, staring down the intruder with no small amount of. Trepidation? Anxiety?

"Greetings, Emerald." The White Sapphire spoke first, giving a simple courtesy which Emerald returned with a low nod, waving her crew off.

"To what do I owe the pleasure ?" her lips curled up in a forced grin, her fingernails digging deeper. 'A white gem. One of White's gems.' Inside her mind spun, turning over all the possibilities. She did not have to suffer in silence for long however as the white gem spoke up in that cold, neutral tone she expected from one of White's court.

"You have been summoned by the illustrious White Diamond for a briefing, Emerald Facet 2K8E, Cut 7XA."

She froze. Her crew was deathly silent. A wave of relief rolled over her at the mention of a 'briefing'. But, White Diamond. There was a harsh shriek of metal on stone and her nails cleaved into her armrests, showering her hands in sparks. The Sapphire didn't flinch, but Emerald almost melted at the sound. She forced herself to remain- strong. Back straight. She could not disappoint. So she nodded solemnly.

"Of course. When will the-"

The White Sapphire turned and started walking, with nothing but a "Now."

Slowly, a grin spread among her crew, she she couldn't help but echo it despite her shaky legs as she stood. She felt so dizzy, everything was spinning, moving so fast. A mission from White Diamond herself. She had- she had hoped for something but this. She never dared dream. She hurried after the White Sapphire with as much dignity as she could muster, steadying herself as the doors slid open and they entered the port.

* * *

With Emerald at her back, Sapphire couldn't keep a small grin off her face. It had gone exactly as she had projected. Now, she had to bring the captain back. Deeper into Homeworld they walked, past checkpoints and more gatherings than she could count. Emerald sneered at them, but never protested or even suggested doing anything about them. She knew better than that, after all, this was White Diamond's sapphire. It was nearly treason to suggest she should do something about these issues, it suggested that White Diamond was not doing enough. So the green gem stayed silent.

Needless to say, nobody tried to stop them.

As her path grew clearer, she finally spoke once more to her escort. "For security reasons, the passageway to my Diamond's ship has been sealed. We will have to take a secret warp pad to proceed." She took a right turn suddenly, down a set of stairs, keeping Emerald off balance.

"O-of course." Was all she said.

Further and further down the stairs winded, before opening to a vast chamber, dimly lit by the standards of much of Homeworld but hardly dark by any means. Down another stretch of hallway she took another turn, guiding the green gem deeper and deeper into the complex under White's palace. They took so many turns that she suspected Emerald was not even certain what direction they were facing currently.

Finally though, their journey came to an end. Ahead of the duo across another room was a tall door. And on either side of the door stood a white quartz and a gray quartz. They saluted them as they approached, pressing a hand onto the pad by the door, which promptly slid open, grinding faintly.

The room was, dank, nasty even. The floor covered in a thin layer of dirt, the metal consoles around rusted and creaking, looking outdated and crude. Dozens of gems sat at these consoles, typing away on blue and green screens. And in the center, sat a large rusted machine, on top of a warp pad. And a white gem stood facing it. The door slammed shut behind them.

Forsterite turned, energy rifle in hand. "Took your time eh?" the tall, pale, off-color Peridot stated, giving Emerald's stunned murmuring a smug grin. "Wu- wu- wu? Speak up, can't hear you."

"You-" Was all Emerald spat out before Sapphire dropped with a shout. There was a flash of light, sharp and quick like lightning, then a clinking behind her.

She heard her stroll up to her, and looked up at the taller gem, staring down the length of the rifle. And then took her hand.

"Not even gonna answer me Wiss?" She pulled the shorted gem onto her feet before asking again "What took so long?"

"I took exactly as long as I needed to." she responded, dusting off her skirt. "You got me dirty."

"Hey now- you-" Forsterite stammered, "Future vision you-" her protests faltered as the smaller gem started laughing. "Come on now, you gotta give me a hard time like this?"

Sapphire smiled, bending down to pick up Emerald's gem. "Perhaps." she turned the gem over carefully, looking for damage and finding none thankfully. "Or perhaps you just make it too easy for me to resist, Hmm?"

"Ahuh sure. Pin it all on me why don't you-"

"That is the idea."

"Shut up and fill me in on the details- nothing went wrong did it? Didn't get stopped at a checkpoint or anything?"

"No, nothing at all."

Forsterite nodded down to her, holding out a hand for Emerald, which she promptly handed over. Then the tech-savvy gem turned, moving to the console. "Right then, let's get a crack on people." The other faded gems in the room quickly got to work as Forsterite hooked Emerald's gem into the device by the console. "Yo Jade you got the records sorted?"

"Almost. Just have to forge a transmission confirming their request to depart and we are crystal." She was tall and lanky and far too pale for her facet.

"Nice nice. Readying the Writer in 3. 2. Go!" A switch was flipped, and sparks flew. To the left, several other peridots hastily adjusted the equipment according to the changing pitch of the machine's whine. To the right Forsterite typed into the console.

She didn't understand exactly how it worked, but she knew it did. A magnificent, ancient piece of Homeworld tech, predating even the War. She and Forsterite had found it buried under White's palace a thousand years ago, they didn't know what to do with it but Forsterite was decided. They should not report this. She had been hesitant then. But now? It let her little mechanic do incredible things. Invaluable things.

* * *

Hours later, Emerald wasn't sure how many, she stepped back onto her ship, mind racing. The meeting with White Diamond had been... Horrifying. The sense of pressure and dread had been unexpected, so palpable. Physical. She was thankful it was finally over.

She didn't really remember much of the details, or even walking back to the ship. It was all so foggy in her mind. But she knew what they were to do.

She never even thought of that Sapphire again the whole journey either. It was far too trivial now, compared to the mission at hand.


	8. Chapter 8: Play Nice

It was a morning. That was about as much as Steven could say on the matter. It wasn't bad but it was certainly not great either. It had been close to a week since Spinel had arrived and the flow of new arrivals had yet to be stemmed. It had gotten to the point that Bismuth was talking about setting up a new town just for all the gems, up on the hill where the Barn used to sit. There wasn't enough space for their ships to land in the Kindergarten anymore!

Steven, of course, was being left out of most of the planning. He chimed in every now and then, talking about keeping the colors bright, suggesting they move an unused warp pad to the town. Little inputs. But really he didn't have the know-how for city layout and he knew it. So when he started down the stairs and heard the Gems talking down stairs he assumed they were just planning more construction. Until he heard.

"... Diamonds!" Pearl shouted, barely stifling herself. "We- you can't even be considering this, really? Garnet?"

"Come on P I don't get what's the big deal." Amethyst piped up "I've been itching for payback since we left."

"But they, their technology and their numbers-"

"Are both quickly becoming a non-issue." Steven ducked back a bit when Garnet spoke up, catching his breath.

Pearl stammered out "B-but-"

"I can't see a way around this." she spoke solomy. "Steven spoke from his heart, and his words touched gems across the Empire. Even if they stopped defecting and coming to Earth right now, Homeworld wouldn't let this stand. They are coming for us." a small pause. "And if we don't want this war to ravage Earth again, we'll need to strike first."

His hands felt clammy as he inched his way back up the stairs into his room, stepping over the second to last step to avoid the creaking. Finally he let himself breath out.

"Whutcha doin' ?"

"AHHHH!" he toppled backwards, flailing his arms to try to catch himself as he yelled out- only to be stopped inches above the hardwood, a long pink arm wrapped around his chest.

"Ops sorry, didn't mean ta scare ya." Spinel giggled, pulling him upright as he caught his breath.

"Steven!?"

"Im ok!" He called back down to Pearl, before turning back to Spinel. "What are you doing up here?" He really hoped she hadn't joined the nightly entourage that watched him sleep. It was kind of creepy.

The pink gem bounced up and down, barely able to contain herself. "Oh I was just hangin' around on the balcony, looking at the ocean and stuff. Then I saw you creepin' about. Playin' a game or something?"

"No, no just- Need to get ready for the day is all." he ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath.

"What'er we doing today then eh?" She asked excitedly.

"I- oh well I wanna check in on Lapis and Peridot. Then after that I'm supposed to meet Connie at the bus stop-" He noted her blank expression and added "Connie. Human friend. About, this tall," he gestured with his hand, aiming it at a little above his height. Still nothing. "Ah- OH shoot you two haven't met yet have you?"

She shook her head slowly, squeaking with the movement, "Noooo..?"

"Oh you're gonna love her she's great!"

* * *

She hopped down the steps of the bus, giving a quick "Thank you!" before the doors slid shut behind her and- Beach City was. 'Oh wow.'

She knew there were more gems around from what Steven had said but this was- A lot. In the distance she could clearly make out several ships sitting on the beach close to the Temple, even from across town.

"JAM BUDDY!" She started, whipping around just in time to spot Steven. He opened his arms, pausing for a second before she nodded and got wrapped up in a hug.

"Haha! Whoa Steven. You ok?" She didn't mind the hug, but he was normally more... reserved. Maybe not reserved but more hesitant than this.

He stepped back, blushing a little- which made her face heat up. "Oh ha yea no it's fine just. Been a while." he rubbed the back of his neck, adding "A lot has happened."

She grabbed him by the shoulders, not able to hold back her excitement any more "Tell me everything! I've been going crazy having to sit at home and study!"

Ka-SQUEAK!

The next thing she knew her face was pressed into a- shoulder?- something wrapped around her and Steven both. She reflexively tried to pull away, "Ah!"

"Ahk! Aha Spinel-" Who? What? And as suddenly as it happened she was free, stumbling back a couple steps before catching her balance.

"Whoops sorry heheha! I'm just excited, you weren't introducing me fast enough!" Came an almost. Nauseous sweet response. Standing between and facing her and Steven was a bouncing pink and white gem, she could tell at a glance she seemed familiar. It was like looking at a sugar-high younger Steven with how she held herself. Sweet and hyper but- She looked the gem over shaking her head. 'Stop being so judgemental sheesh.' she told herself before smiling.

"Hello. My name is Connie Maheswaran." She held out her hand but the gem didn't take it, she just held out her own hand for a second while they both stared at each other.

Blink Blink. "OH RIGHT! DUH! Silly me!" the gem said like she was remembering something, finally taking her hand and shaking it rapidly. "I always get that part mixed up! I'm Spinel!" She spun around, splaying her arms and legs out in a dramatic pose- "Steven's BEST! FRIEND!" Jazz hands.

"Ha ha... yeaaaa... This is. Her." Steven was rubbing his neck again "She's ah- very energetic."

She took a moment to just, gather herself, mind racing. Steven had mentioned Spinel but she was- well this was just- a lot more than she expected. "Right I um." She took a breath, collecting herself quickly. "Well it's nice to meet you. I didn't realize you were going to be here." She glanced over to Steven and squinted a little. Which made him look really uncomfortable but she hardly noticed, locking in on his eye, and the fading bruise.

"Sooooo." he coughed. "Spinel's been trying to get used to Earth so I figured she could tag along- if you don't mind." the last part was rushed out.

'Steven...' she pushed down the thought, "Sure thats, fine."

He didn't seem to notice the hesitation, instead turning to lead the way down the road to the Boardwalk. "Awesome! Yea things have been kind of insane like I said on the phone. It's... really stressful honestly."

She picked up the pace and grabbed his hand, walking beside him. The pink gem- 'Spinel.' she reminded herself- leapt up and grabbed his left arm. He just let her, 'She must do that a lot.' she grumbled internally. Then she shook her head to dispel the thought. 'I know Steven, this is stupid. Shes just not used to Earth.' She couldn't help but feel a little- jealous?- though. No, not quite jealous, she hoped not anyway that would be stupid. The overly-cheerful gem just rubbed her wrong. Steven had said she attacked him which in Steven speak meant she had probably tried to kill him. And now they were just buddy-buddy?

Then again Steven did have that effect on gems historically so it wasn't really that much of a stretch just. 'She's just too cheerful. It feels fake.' She pursed her lips, eyeing the gem around Steven as he talked. And noticed Spinel was eyeing her as well.

"So, where do you wanna go?" he asked, watching her.

"Oh ah, Funland I guess? It's been a while." her face felt warm again.

He shrugged, leading the way "Sounds good. Mr Smiley has been pretty busy recently- a lot of new gem arrivals want to try the park out for some reason."

The pink gem was practically bouncing next to him, "Oh! Oh! Yea Gem ships are all reeeaally advanced so we don't feel the..." she waved her hand dramatically like she was missing a word.

"G-Forces...?" she supplied to which the gem snapped her finger.

"Yeap that's the one! So the rollercoaster is really cool the first couple'a times!"

"That doesn't sound right." Steven said, "When we took the Ruby ship to the Zoo it was insane!"

"Maybe it was broken somehow?" she guessed, which Spinel nodded to.

"Yea Rubies tend to break their ships a lot. Or heck knowin' them they might'a turned off the safety themselves for the heck of it!"

"That. Makes sense actually yea." she agreed as they stepped into Funland. "Either way it doesn't look too terrible at least."

That was a lie, it was busier than she had ever seen it. A throng of people were gathered around the ticket booth, several of the stalls had people at them with the few carnies that were working rushing to run two or more stalls each at once. Mr Smiley wasn't even at the front entrance which was a first. The crowd was far from impressive, maybe thirty people on the main path that they could see, but that was busy by Beach City standards. In the distance the whir of the Rollercoaster could be heard as well as the faint jingle of the merry go round, and overhead speakers were playing the same generic music as always.

Some of the guests were giving Spinel weird looks which was confusing until Connie realized why it was so busy.

"Come on class, this way!" an elderly lady, maybe in her early forties, called out leading a gaggle of school children down the path.

"Is there a field trip or something?" Steven asked as confused as her.

"I guess that has to be it, weird. I got today and Monday off for Spring break but I guess one of the other towns decided to to a field trip today." So there were out of towners around. 'Spinel is probably the first gem most of these people have seen then. Oh boy.'

"We could just come back tomorrow if you want?" She asked but Steven shook his head.

"It's fine, unless you want to?" Spinel glanced about at all the people, looking a bit dazed but not protesting Steven's call.

"No no I don't mind. So... what do you want to do?" Connie asked with a smile.

Steven froze up and just stared at nothing for a moment. "I have no idea."

A couple of the school children looked up at the speaker, drawing Connie's attention to it. It had cut out to a faint static filled crackle.

"We could just try to ferris wheel first?" She suggested, and the speaker crackled back to life sending a chill down her back. 'Freaky.'

"Yea that sounds fun!" Steven said with stiff enthusiasm, shaking himself out of... whatever that had been and leading on. She glanced over to Spinel, catching the gem's pie-eyes. She had noticed too.


	9. Chapter 9: Talk to Me

"Ah ah! Two per pod." Mr Smiley said, pointing at Spinel, "She'll have to sit on the next one."

Connie looked back at Spinel, who really didn't look happy about it but after glancing to Steven she nodded. Connie felt kind of relieved. 'I need a few minutes to talk with Steven.'

Speaking of, he stepped up into the pod so she follow suit, sliding in next to him and lowering the bar. "I don't get the appeal honestly." He grinned as the wheel spun slightly to put the next pod at ground level, "I mean we've both been to space right? This is nothing compared to that."

"Mmm truuuue. Though we are less likely to die on this thing which is a plus." That got a chuckle from him. She opened her mouth but he spoke before she got a chance to ask her question,

"So how have studies been?" he asked.

"Oh you know haha." her stomach did a little flip when he glanced over, "The usual." 'I'm an idiot.' she thought before speaking up, "How has all of... that been?" she asked gesturing to the dozen or so spaceships landed on the beach bellow the temple, visible from their height halfway up the wheel now. And instantly regretted it.

He stared off to the ships, silently for a long moment. "Eh, you know. The usual." he said morosely.

She felt a twinge in her chest at that, watching him peer out, not at the Ships but at the Temple. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"About what?" The ferris wheel started to turn faster, now loaded with riders.

She took a breath as the passed the peak of the ride, "I don't know, you seem kind of off today. Sorry."

He dismissed the apology with a wave of his hand "No don't be, it's fine. There's just a lot going on right now ya know? New gems arriving, Bismuth is setting up a town for them all, Lapis is worried because Peri is worried and the Gems are-" he cut himself off at that, just shaking his head. "There's just a lot like I said."

She could tell from his voice there was more to it than just that, but before she could question further the ride lurched to a stop. "Wooah."

"I feel like this ride used to be longer." she commented as they stood up, to which Mr Smiley leaned in.

"Yea normally I just let you kids sit cause I don't have a line." He whispered through his giant grin, before stepping back to the controls.

"Fair enough."

"So how'd ya like that!" Spinel dropped down next to them, doubling over from the impact and springing back upright with a big smile and scaring the shit out of both of them.

Mr Smiley was giving them to death glare so she spoke up "Ah Spinel you're supposed to wait until your on the ground before you get off.."

"Oh." She looked back up, "Righty!" and started stretching back up to the pod.

"No! Its. Fine." Mr Smiley was there in an instant, grabbing the gem's shoulder to stop her from stretching back up. "Just for future reference. Never. Do. That." He looked more intense than usual, which was saying a lot, but his grin never faded.

"Oh. Ohkey!" Spinel said cheerfully, not taking a hint apparently. She grabbed the gem's hand to pull her away with Steven before Mr Smiley hurt himself. He looked like his head was going to blow off.

Somehow he was worse now. Quieter. 'Whatever Connie said made it worse!' Spinel thought angrily as she stared away from them so they couldn't see it. She wasn't good at hiding her feelings and she knew it.

She'd been pestering him about what was wrong probably which wasn't good. 'He needs distractions right now!' She glanced around quickly looking for anything that stood out to her. Her breathing started to hasten as she scanned through the spotty crowd of people at the stalls and games along the side, all of it was just noise preventing her from helping him. And if she couldn't help him she- No she couldn't fail again. Then she saw it. The House of Mirrors. She had no idea what it was but she needed to.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" She bounced pointing them to it with a grin, "I wanna go in that!"

Steven chuckled, "Right right, easy you're gonna rip my arm off haha." She eased up a bit looking back, relieved that he seemed to be joking. She had no real reference for how durable humans were. She'd have to add that to her research pile.

As they stepped inside she felt dazzled by the bright lights and long halls of mirrors. It almost looked like the halls of Homeworld for a brief moment before the stepped further in and their reflections bounced everywhere filling the space.

"Wooooah." She spun in a circle slowly taking in all the strange warped reflections, each showing them stretched and compressed and twisted in different ways. 'No nothing like Homeworld...' she thought. They would hate this. She beamed over at Steven- she loved that they would hate this.

"Hey watch this." He said, walking over to one of the mirrors with her. His reflection looked compressed vertically but stretched horizontally. Then he started to shapeshift, stretching his legs and body and making himself thinner, until the mirror showed a normal Steven.

"PFFFFFFFT" she tried to hold back but her laugh raspberried out as she broke.

Behind her, Connie snorted, putting a hand on Steven's shoulder as he giggled too. Spinel took a second as she collected herself, still grinning widely, and looked Steven over quickly. 'Stars that smile.' She thought, her gem feeling warm. She needed to get him like this more often. She'd been making slow progress since she arrived but she still had her 'off days' where she couldn't figure out how to make him feel better for long, which hurt. But no- she would do better. She would figure it out. She just needed to keep working at it and fast, before he- She looked away quickly, moving over to another mirror before they could notice her expression. 'Before he leaves me too.'

'Dammit, dammit! Stop. Being. Sad! I can't make him happy if I'm always getting sad dammit!' she scolded herself making liberal use of that word Amethyst had taught her. The purple gem had said 'cursing' was a thing humans did to relieve stress and honestly it kind of worked. She took a breath, steadying herself as they walked over. Thankfully Steven didn't seem to have noticed, so she carried on like nothing had happened.

She examined her distorted reflection for a moment before stretching to match it, causing the reflection to warp further. "Heh! That works!"

They spent a while in the mirror house, goofing off and screwing with their reflections with their shapeshifting. Well except Connie, but she seemed to enjoy just watching so whatever. They walked out laughing together and everything seemed just, perfect.

Connie caught her breath, still holding tight to Steven's hand.

"So, where next?" He asked looking around.

"Could try the Teacups?" Connie suggested.

Spinel tilted her head to look up at him, his arm had tensed up. Then she followed his gaze, spotting that weird human- 'Mr Smiley or something?' staring at Steven from all the way across the park, standing under what she assumed was the Teacup ride since it was made up of giant Teacups. He was shaking his head slowly, eyes locked on Steven.

"Ahaa ah I probably shouldn't. Last time I rode it it ah. Broke."

"Whaaaaat about that thing?" Spinel pointed up the the rollercoaster as the carts roared by full of screaming people.

The rollercoaster was a blast. The trio's legs wobbled a little as they climbed out of the ride and for the rest of the day out Steven seemed to be doing a lot better. Connie looked slightly annoyed at Spinel every now and then but she didn't care. Steven was doing better, that's all that mattered. They swung by Fish Stew Pizza for dinner and chatted with Kiki and Jenny a bit while they ate, they didn't keep their diners busy for long though so inevitably the conversation turned to other things. Connie and Steven were talking about some movie based on a book series or something, Unfamiliar Familiar? But she zoned out through that stretch of the conversation. Too many proper nouns to keep up with.

Finally the sun started to hang low and the sky darkened. Steven and Spinel saw Connie off at the bus station and headed home. The Crystal Gems weren't around but they left a bunch of papers on the table which seemed to upset Steven for some reason. He went upstairs to change into pajamas.

She still didn't really get the point of having so many outfits, he said it was to 'be comfortable' which was kind of strange. 'Hmmm. Maybe I can just.' Her gem started to glow faintly, a warm light that spread over her body as she considered. 'Comfortable.' Her form settled quickly, just before Steven came back downstairs.

"Aye I'm good now you can come up- oh!"

Her face went flush, "Oh yea ah, I was thinking about this 'pajamas' thing and figured I'd try, comfort clothes? I don't know if I did it right I don't really, get it." Her leggings were gone, as were her shoes, so she stood barefoot in her shirt and shorts. Her gloves had also poofed away and her hair was down out of the ponytail. 'This does feel more comfortable honestly.' she though, coughing.

"Yea looks kind of more pajama-ish. Cool!" He gave a thumbs.

'Gah I hate this!' she pursed her lips then just sighed. 'Whatever.' "So I guess this will help make sleeping easier?"

He shrugged "I 'unno. Helps me but the other gems don't really sleep much. Or well Amethyst does but she just passes out wherever however she wants so I don't really know how it works with Gems." he rambled a bit as they went upstairs but she didn't mind at all.

"Riiiight."

"Well, there's a couple hours to burn before I need to go to bed. Wanna try... Jumpman Smash Attack?" Steven asked dragging the beanbag chair out in front of his TV.

"Eh sure." She wasn't very comfortable with these controllers yet, it was more delicate than the arcade cabinets, and not very... intuitive for her. Still she loved video games and they did decently well, blasting through a couple zones over the next hour and a half. She was really into the game by this point, barely noticing the sun had set fully, no more light streaming through the glass doors behind them. The only thing lighting the room was the blue light of the TV as she leapt up and crushed another robot turtle. Then she heard it, a low droning sound. Her grip on the controller tightened, she readied herself for whatever was about to attack-

"Zzzzzz..."

Blink Blink.

She looked down, finally realizing. Steven had passed out in the beanbag chair, his controller barely held in a slack grip looking ready to slide free at any moment. His head lulling against her shoulder. 'Oh shit.'

She sat like that for several long moments. Unsure of what to do. Frozen. She stretched her arm, carefully grabbing his controller to set it down then stretched up, standing and turning in such a way that he didn't slide too much. Then, very very slowly, she pulled him up, keeping him in the sitting position and carrying him over to his bed to lay him down.

"Gaaanmehblueh." she froze again as he murmured nonsense in his sleep but after a few seconds he went quiet again ad she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she shut off the TV and Game Station, quickly giving the room a once-over to make sure she hadn't forgotten something. 'Nope.' So with that she moved downstairs quietly, collapsing on the couch. Staring at the ceiling lost in thought.

Before she knew it she had faded into sleep. Comfort clothes really did help.

* * *

She drifted back to consciousness some time later, face-down on the couch that she was barely even on at that point, a leg dangling off the side. She started to push herself upright slowly but stopped. Someone was talking in the warp room-

"She's clingy."

"And we weren't?"

Her 'breath' caught. Carefully she settled back down, staring intently into the couch cushions as she listened now.

"That was different, we were raising him. Human children need that kind of attention. She-"

Garnet cut her off. "Has been through a lot."

"And almost killed him." Amethyst pointed out.

"Granted. This won't have a poor outcome though." The fusion declared. "Probably. Steven likes to help people with this sort of stuff. He'll do fine." The Pearl huffed, not seeming content with that. "And at the very least it might keep him out of this war. He doesn't need to go through this."

"Fine, fine. You're right." Pearl sighed as the group drew distant, heading into the Temple proper.

The Temple door slid shut, leaving Spinel with her thoughts.

'Is that what they see me as? Just... A problem to fix?' She took a shaky breath, wrapping her arms around the couch cushion. 'The way they talk about me- about us. Like me and Steven don't even exist on their level.' she growled, shoving her face against the cushion to muffle her scream. 'They are just using me, a distraction. To manipulate Steven. To keep us both stuck here with no choice!'

She grabbed the back of her head and rolled onto the floor with a dull thud, staring up at the ceiling. A while passed while she lay there. She wasn't sure how long but eventually she felt better. Annoyed and hurt but calmer. And it was almost morning, the sun just peaking up and lighting up the beach outside faintly.

She clasped her hands together and stretched up, literally stretching her body upwards as she shook off the last dredges of sleep. She couldn't tell Steven. No, that would just hurt him more. But she could help him in other ways. She strolled into the kitchen, hunting for supplies. She watched a cooking show once a few days ago, she could definitely make eggs.


	10. Chapter 10: Eggs

**TW: Panic Attack**

* * *

_His breath was cloudy in front of him, puffing out in rapid spouts as he ran. The ground was split, a web of cracks branching out across the pavement as he ran down the streets of Beach City. Everywhere he looked doors were eskew and windows were broken. Not a soul in sight._

_He sprinted over to a house and slammed the door open and suddenly it was Connie's house. There was a layer of dust built up on the furniture and floor. Her jacket still hung on the hook by the stairs, her bag sat propped against the wall by the door, both covered in cobwebs. Tears streamed down his face as he ran out of the house, trying to get to the boardwalk. Cobwebs spread over the whole city now, covered in spiders. He had to find someone. He- he needed to find anyone there had to be somebody he had to find them. He screamed, for Connie. Dad. Nanefua or Peedee or- but nothing came out. His screams were silent._

_Suddenly he was underwater. He couldn't even breath- he sunk deeper and deeper, clawing at the water. He couldn't summon his bubble, he couldn't swim- he needed to-_

* * *

He shot up in his bed, a layer of cold sweat coated him. The smoke alarm was going off.

"..."

"OH SHIT!" he scrambled out of his bed and bolted for the stairs. He stumbled, slamming into the wall of the first landing and turned. As he thudded down the final steps a smoking pan flew in front of him and smashed the window, sailing out into the 'yard'.

"Oh!" came a cry from the Kitchen. His head whipped around and he locked eyes with Spinel for a moment.

She looked terrified. 'Uh oh.' The sink was running, hissing as steam and smoke drifted from whatever had burned. She reached out but flinched back when he approached "I'm sorry I just. I'm sorry I wanted to make eggs for us but it- I'm. I'm sorry I just-" She collapsed in a heap on the ground and held her legs to her chest, burying her face in her knees and she kept apologising in circles.

It felt like there was a rock in his throat when he swallowed. His mind tried to race but gears were grinding as he hadn't had time to really wake up. 'She's having a panic attack. Oh god. Ok.' He thought back, he had read about this a couple years ago when he had been researching for how to help Lapis through her ocean-related trauma. He'd worried she might have a panic attack if he screwed up. It was a long time ago but he remembered what to do sort of.

He sat down with her, mustering as much of a calming tone as he could manage. "Hey it's ok. My dad burns food all the time. You didn't do anything wrong ok?" She shook and kept murmuring to herself but he pressed on, repeating himself a few times. "Just breath, you're ok. You got this."

Slowly she started to pull herself out of it. He kept telling her she was alright and it seemed to work. She stopped spiraling and her crying eased. He opened his mouth to talk some more but she leaned into his shoulder with the usual squeak that accompanied her movements, but deflated sounding now. He signed in relief, staring up out the glass doors.

"I'm sorry. I... I just keep screwing things up." she said dejectedly.

"It's ok, it was just eggs-"

"It's not just eggs!" he flinched at the outburst and her shoulders sank again. "You've been upset for weeks and I just... nothing I do is making it any better! I'm a failure..."

'Oh.' He let out a shaky breath, feeling about an inch tall. They sat like that for what felt like forever before he found his voice again. "I ah... Thought I was better at hiding that than I guess I actually am huh." He sighed, letting his head fall back against the cabinets behind them, collecting his thoughts. "Look you don't. It's not your fault, you don't need to fix my issues-"

"I am supposed to though!" her knuckles were white as her grip tightened on her legs.

"Says who?"

"ME!" She got off his shoulder and stared out the hole she'd made in the window. "Everything about what I was MADE FOR says that! It's my whole POINT for existing!" she sniffled. "My purpose in life is to make- people feel better. I've never been able to do that right..."

"...You're wrong. You've made me feel better by hanging out with me. I-" he groaned and ran a hand through his hair sloppily. "I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't want to worry anyone. I didn't want you to have to deal with my baggage. It's not your job."

"I want to though." That caught him off guard. He laughed quietly but it came out hollow.

"Uhhhff." He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a side-hug. "I'm sorry for putting you through this. I'll... try talking more. Just not to the Crystal Gems- Even when they try to help they kind of stress me out with their advice, heh."

"Ok.."

"And the same goes the other way ya know? If you ever need to talk about stuff I'm always here." He pushed himself up and she took his hand and stood with him. "I've gotten pretty good at dealing with this kind of stuff, as long as they aren't my issues anyway. You don't need to bottle it all up."

The cleanup didn't take too long. The smoldering heap of what once had been eggs needed scraped up with a fork and tossed in the trash. He opened the door and flipped the switch so it would stay that way, letting the house air out while Spinel swept the glass off the porch, and as they worked they talked.

"Connie noticed yesterday too."

She nodded. "Oh yea definitely. I don't think the others have though."

He let a breath through his lips slowly, groaning. "Sometimes I think I'm both too good and not good enough at lying. I kind of hate it."

"Heh yeaaa. Same." she dumped the glass into the trash and stretched her arm to prop the broom back in the corner. "All I was ever allowed to do was hide things so I got pretty good at it... I thought anyway." She slid down the fridge and plopped onto the ground, so he sat down next to her. He didn't really know what to say to that but fortunately she broke the silence herself. "Sorry about the window again."

"It's fine- It'll probably only take Bismuth like, five minutes to fix that. She'd good at that stuff."

They were both staring up the stairs to his mom- Rose er, Pink Diamond's portrait.

"She was a liar too but she never felt bad for it." there was a subtle venom under her voice that made Steven nervous, but he waited and gave her the chance to continue. He knew this was coming eventually. "We used to play. That's what I was made for. I was a.. I thought I was her friend but I was just a toy. A distraction. We spent years in the Garden while she waited for a colony. She vented to me about the other Diamonds. About... her old pearl... I did everything I could to make her feel better. And she left me."

His mouth felt dry, his heart fluttering as she spoke. "H- how long were you...?"

"She left me the instant she got her colony... I stood there for six thousand years waiting and she never came back for me-" her voice broke and he couldn't- he pulled her into a hug, wanting to say something, anything, but no apology from him would ever help and he knew it. So they hugged, and cried.

Eventually Steven mustered himself enough to talk again. "She did that to everyone... to me. She just left me here and ran and never faced any of her mistakes. I've been trying to make up for them for my whole life but I just. I feel like I'm doing the same thing as her sometimes..."

"You're nothing like her." Spinel's hold on him tightened, "You actually care."


	11. Chapter 11: Communication Hub

"I'll go tell Steven we're going to be gone for a little bit." Pearl said as she stepped out of the Temple into the main house. Garnet knew what was coming but she let fate take its path and followed after her friend quietly, with Amethyst on her heels.

The house smelled faintly of smoke despite obvious efforts to cover their cooking mishap up with the synthetic flowery scent of air freshener. Steven and Spinel were sitting on the couch, shoulder pressed to shoulder as they leaned together to watch a TubeTube video on Steven's phone. Garnet forced her expression to remain neutral as a smile tried to form. She knew about what had happened and was proud of Steven. But right now such gestures wouldn't be welcomed, or rather they would be misinterpreted.

"Steven, we're ah-." Pearl was not as tactful, stumbling her words a bit as the two looked up and immediately created some distance between each other, faces glowing faintly. "We're going to go try to put the Communication Hub back together. Should only take an hour or so but-" the thin gem was looking around the room now, not completely oblivious to their awkwardness. Then she spotted the window. 'Shoot.'

She stepped forwards to grab Pearl's shoulder and turn her around towards the warp pad.

"Wa- What happened to the window!?" She squawked out as Garnet guided her away. Steven murmured something quietly but they didn't hear what, Garnet knew though.

"They'll sort it out." She said in a hushed tone before turning back to wave. "We'll be back soon. Bismuth is at the Town not her forge."

"You two don't have too much fun now!" Amethyst called back as they stepped onto the warp pad. 'Subtle as always.' She activated the pad before the two could say anything else, sending them into the Warp. This was going to be an exhausting day. She could see the complications already.

* * *

"It's none of our business. Right now the only thing we need concern ourselves with is this tower." Garnet stated as they dropped out of Warp onto the cracked warp pad. The damage from Sugilite's rampage was apparent still all these years later, with chunks of stone buried in the trenches they dug when they flew from the tower into the ground around them. The Warp Pad had been cleared off and Peridot had used her repaired Robinoids to fix that at least, but the tower itself was. In quite the state.

Giant crystaline-stone pillars were speared into the sandy ground, webs of cracks spread across their surface. Many were split in two violently with chunks broken off and crumbled. Garnet did a quick scan over of what was left before speaking up.

"We need to form Alexandrite."

"Whaaaat?" Amethyst and Pearl said at the same time.

"Sardonyx and Opal aren't exactly suited to construction work and Sugilite is Sugilite." She adjusted her visor adding "We'll make quick work of this and get back to the house."

She half expected an argument but it never came. So they started dancing.

They came together in a hot light, slotted in like pieces of a puzzle amidst the mass. Alexandrite didn't exactly have a personality like the other fusions, they were more like a suit the gems came together to wear as one. That made them problematic sometimes in the past, but the Crystal Gems had grown a great deal in the last few years.

"Alright let's get this over with." Came Pearl's voice.

So they set to work clearing a small area and sorting the functional pillars from the destroyed ones. As the hour stretched on and on the pile of ruble grew and the stack of functional ones stayed relatively small. The conclusion was inevitable, and the longer they didn't address it the more anxious the fusion became. The first layer of pillars were set in the ground with a large flat piece of stone balanced on top to form a 'floor'. The fusion looked down at the two remaining pillars. Then to the barey half-finished tower. Then the two pillars again.

"This isn't going to work." Amethyst broke the silence stating the obvious.

"No it needs to be at least two- no three more floors so that's... fourteen more pillars counting the focusing stones.." Pearl said.

"Maybe we can fix some of the cracked ones?" Amethyst suggested but Garnet shook the fusion's head.

"No. We had Peridot test that when she fixed the Warp Pad remember."

"Then- Gah how are we gonna fix this then!" The fusion popped apart at that, sending the three thudding to the ground.

"If you two hadn't broken so many pillars as Sugilite this wouldn't be an issue!" Pearl brushed herself off with a huff.

Amethyst was quick to fire back, "Yea and why did we do that again? Gee I wonder-"

"Enough!" Garnet grimaced. She hadn't intended it to come out that harsh but it wasn't exactly a pleasant memory even if she had forgiven Pearl already long ago. She straightened her visor, staring the two down. "We all screwed up back then. But this is now. And we've got a problem to solve. Ideas?"

She looked over to Pearl at that. "Well. We know Homeworld tech is more advanced now so any new colony wouldn't have a tower like this probably."

"But?" Amethyst sat up.

"But- an older colony might. We could ask some of the gems who have arrived if their colonies had a Communication Hub like this-"

"And steal some of their Pillars?"

Garnet nodded, "We tried something similar back during the rebellion so we could make our own warp pads." Amethyst looked excited before she added "It didn't work. We didn't have clearance to get near another colony."

"Oh."

"But," she added. "This time we just might have someone who can help us with that."

* * *

"There, good as new!" Bismuth said with a laugh. "You two don't go throwing things out this one now you hear? I like building things but between you all and Peridot screwing around with her metal powers I think I've installed a dozen windows in the last year."

"Heh ehhh yea." Spinel rubbed her arm. "I'll ah, try not to break it again."

Steven watched Iolite as she examined the window, gently touching the seam where it met the doorframe. She had been tagging along with Bismuth a lot from what Peridot had said, trying to get a feel for Earth's materials. The big smith was more than happy to teach her what she could and had explained in laborious, boring detail everything there was to know about installing a window. Steven never wanted to hear about fixing a building again after that.

Bismuth grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Well if that's everything we should probably get back to the Town. See you two later eh?" She said with a grin and a wave.

"Yea, we'll swing by sometime soon. Sounds like a lot's happening."

"Oho yea it's pretty Bis-y Ha! Aight you two take care now!"

He collapsed onto the couch like one of those deflated wacky waving arm things people put outside car dealerships. He'd tried to convince his dad to buy one a few months ago. Those were cool. He groaned, pulling out his phone and flicking through his texts. He'd still not responded to Connie. He didn't really know what to say sometimes. More often recently. It was a lot easier to just not talk about things when it was over text. A blessing and a curse.

A flash of light came from the warp room, followed pretty quickly by the Crystal Gems.

"Hey Steve-o we're back!" Amethyst dove onto the couch face first, flopping and rolling to sit vaguely upright.

"Amethyst!" She glanced between the purple gem and him, wringing her hands. "We need to go."

"Pssh."

"So ah... you got the hub thing working I guess?" He asked.

"Well... Not exactly no."

"It's totally jacked." Amethyst admitted, "Barely even got it like, half-fixed."

"Oh.."

"Yes, we are going to go talk to some of the new arrivals. Its possible there is a tower on a world near by we could um. Scavenge." Pearl looked up to the window, "Ah, Bismuth has already been by I suppose?"

Spinel twisted in her seat, staring at Amethyst as she started loudly eating a magazine off the table.

"Yea Bis just left actually. Apparently a lot of the Gems have started work on the Town. You'll probably be able to find someone there." he stood up, followed closely by Spinel. "Mind if I come too?"

He watched them when he said that. Closely. Pearl's gaze flitted to Garnet briefly and her grip tightened on her own hand. Garnet was practically unreadable- Practically- but her shoulders raised a fraction. Amethyst seemed to care the least, "Yea sure dude whatev's."

"I doubt there will be much to do but, sure." Pearl's voice wavered slightly.

Garnet nodded. "Amethyst, come on."

* * *

The Town had come a long way in the last couple days. The ground had been leveled where the barn used to sit, the hole filled in on top of the hill. Temporary gravel paths had been laid using stone from the Kindergarden, making out a large road network branching out like a star from there. Gems were everywhere as well, plenty of Quartzes had started to chip in for the manual labor and massive piles of cut stone were arranged ready to be put to use. Nanafua was even present, along with a couple human construction workers with a cement truck ready to pour the foundations that Lapis was digging out with her water powers.

Bismuth had been getting to know plenty of the new arrivals, so with her help it didn't take very long at all to narrow down the list and start asking around. There was a Carnelian who was made on a colony a couple solar systems over but she said they had upgraded their systems a thousand years or so after the war ended. They also talked to a Chalcedony and a Heliotrope but neither of them were sure what communication system their colonies had which made trying those planets not worthwhile. It seemed like their hunt was doomed, until...

"I um... My planet had a... tower like that." Iolite said nervously.

"What? But it was too new I thought?" Bismuth asked.

"Well we. Weren't exactly a high status colony at first. Blue Diamond started it shortly after the new communicators were introduced but she was still... distracted... by Pink Diamond's ah. 'Shattering'." The shorter gem let out a long breath, "We got an upgrade eventually when the colony's moon was turned into a Bastion Palace but they never bothered removing the old Hub on the colony itself."

Garnet crouched down, reflecting Iolite in her visor. "And you know the clearance codes to get us in." It wasn't a question.

"I- do."

She tilted her head, noting the gem's fidgeting. She shifted her feet, pulled at her dress, looked around the group, never still. Garnet's shoulders dropped "You don't have to come. We won't make you-"

"No... But you'll need me. I know my way around, you all don't really." Garnet stood back up, waiting for Iolite to decide to come. "I'll- I'll come with you all." She looked up at her like she expected her to challenge the decission but Garnet had known it was coming. She simply nodded and smiled. She was making good progress already. Becoming assertive. Growing more confident. Being herself.

"Then we have our team." Pearl said clapping her hands together, "Me, Garnet, Amethyst, and Iolite will leave tomorrow-"

"I'm coming too." Steven interrupted.

That was a surprise for Garnet. She had seen him staying to help with the Town and attempt to integrate Spinel more with others. But when she looked him over now she could tell he had made his mind up already. Something had changed earlier.

Pearl started to protest but Garnet held up a hand, stopping her. Focusing on Steven now. She couldn't tell what had changed. He had been so tired of fighting after battling the Diamonds and escaping Homeworld. He still was but...

She nodded. "Very well. I don't foresee too much risk in this. Nothing we haven't handled before anyway." She tilted her head to look the other variable up and down. Spinel was staring at Pearl before she noticed she was being watched.

"I coming with Steven!" she blurted out. Steven's mouth opened but he thought better and said nothing.

So many variables. Sapphire accepted is as inevitable but Ruby hated when their vision was clouded like this. There was nothing to do about it now though. She simply nodded to the pink gem. "Tomorrow."

* * *

The day started so peacefully. The air was crisp and warm with the gentle breeze cooling him occasionally as it picked up. The sky was a clear blue with barely a cloud in sight. The beach was once again clear, excluding the orange cargo ship they were going to be using today. That ship. It looked awesome, like something he would see in the Space Battle Commander cartoon. Angular and gleaming with a smooth hull and sharp wings.

He was sat on the final step of the porch taking it all in, tranquil on the surface but his anxieties and failures were on loop in his head. The Gems obviously didn't think he could handle missions anymore. That was the only explanation he could come up with. The Homeworld escape had been somewhat... sloppy. Breaking out of the Tower as Stevonnie only to be caught immediately by Blue. Being taken to Yellow for scolding. Diving off the bridge with the Gems and skating down piping whilst avoiding Yellow's blasts.

He'd almost gotten them shattered. He's almost gotten Connie killed. He'd had too much faith in the Diamonds and it backfired hard. But this was his chance to make up for all of that. To make up for... starting this war all over again. He had to set things right with the Gems, and with Connie. To prove he could do this. He stood up and turned, finding Spinel was right behind him. Watching him.

There was a moment of hesitation before her beaming smile started. "Heya! You ready?"

Behind her the others gems were making their way through the living room to the doorway.

'I'll prove my worth this time.' he nodded. "I'm ready."

The flight was relatively quick. He wasn't being kidnapped, or going on a rescue mission, or going into the hornet's nest to talk down a giant space dictator. This was relatively speaking a lower risk space trip. But he felt anxious regardless. The ship began to slow after a couple hours, a dusty lilac colored planet divided up by deep scar-like cracks and freckled with smaller lakes of water appeared. Above the planet hung it's moon with it's Bastion Palace. The surface of the moon was covered completely by crystalline geometric structures vaguely fashioned like a wedding cake, with the higher levels growing smaller and smaller, gleaming towers protruding from the mega-structure projecting faint rainbows like a prism. Despite the context, with the palace shining above the corpse of a planet, it was hard to deny it's beauty. If anything it made the husk bellow it look duller and more devastated in comparison.

Steven was jarred back to attention when the terminal crackled to life in front of Iolite.

"Approaching vessel state your facet and purpose."

Steven ducked away on reflex, even though the terminal would only render what was directly in front of it to the security officer speaking.

Iolite for her part looked surprisingly calm as she spoke. "This is Iolite Facet 3C3D Cut 7XE, approaching Crystal System Colony Kepler-442b for materials collection."

* * *

Morganite looked back to the Lapis, which nodded. "Very well, transmit authorization codes now."

A quick gesture disabled the transmitter and Morganite leaned back in her seat. "This had better work. I'm taking an awful risk here letting these rebels through."

The Lapis smiled down at her and placed a hand on the back of the chair. "Of course you are. And you will be rewarded when it does. An opportunity like this can't be allowed to simply, drift away."

She sighed and turned back to the terminal. As expected the codes were outdated by several cycles. She hesitated for a moment, then turned the transmitter back on.

"You are cleared for landing." This had better work.

* * *

The planet was... a nightmare. This was the first time Amethyst or Steven had really borne witness to a fully realized colony besides the bustling Homeworld, which was hardly a representation of the standard across the galaxy. The seemingly endless expanse of purple and brown sandy dirt, the moistureless harsh breeze and the looming peakless mountains covered in uniformly spaced exit holes were familiar, but distinctly more chilling than the Prime Kindergarten.

Iolite cruised the ship over the hills and down a dried up riverbed before the Communication Hub came into sight. The sparkling tower of crystalline pillars was a perfect twin of the one from Earth before it had fallen into disrepair. And then been destroyed a couple times. The ship turned and landed sideways facing a dirty stagnant lake with the Hub off the port side.

"Iolite, stay in the ship." Garnet ordered as she stood. Steven expected her to add him and Spinel to that order with the look she gave him, but she simply turned and walked for the cargo hold so the Crystal Gems all followed after.

"We need to gather as many pillars as we can as quickly as we can." She hopped into a loader pod- a round open-top ship with a beam projector on the front similar to Peridot's escape pod. "Steven and Spinel, you keep watch while we work."

'The ship's sensors would see any ship coming anyway.' Steven stewed internally for a moment, but then again he didn't know how to fly one of those things either. Once he was down the ramp he floated up on top of the ship, followed closely behind by Spinel who stretched and climbed her way up with ease.

"Shesh I didn't know you could float!" She huffed out with a giggle. "Guess I know not ta' challenge you to a climbing race any time soon."

* * *

She smirked as the rebels began their work. She could see it now. Her and her sisters commended for their work. Elevated to higher statuses. Maybe even given Pearls of their own. That would be something.

Curls lowered the Sight Glass and looked back down the hill to her force. Her force. Stars that was a good feeling. Being in charge, spearheading missions, taking the initiative. In a way she almost had to thank the Organic for all of this, and maybe she would when she captured her. The chaos her transmission had sewn had paved the road for her glory after all. Not just in painting a target on her back, but finally loosening the grip of the bureaucracy and hierarchy of Homeworld enough for something like this to even be possible without being shattered. That Emerald on Homeworld had proven that in times like these the Diamonds valued quick gems who took the initiative and got results. It emboldened many. Like those she had gathered.

She peered through the Sight Glass again, waiting for the right moment- but not too long. She just needed the gems to be most of the way to the tower, all three of them, so she could strike. She could barely contain herself. it was finally her time.

* * *

"Yea. I still discover a power every now and then but I think I've figured most of them out finally." He sat and leaned back against one of the angles of the ship, staring off over the horizon as he remembered the various life or death situations that caused his powers to manifest. The shield against Centipeetle, almost getting brained by a falling rock, trying to heal Amethyst when she almost died. "If I ever want a new power I probably just need to like almost die or something honestly heh. That seems to be the pattern."

"If you intentionally get hurt to try and unlock some new latent power or some dumb shit I am going to hit you."

Her smile had faltered somewhat but it still clung on. "Oh no I meant it as a joke sorry."

"I know you meant it as a joke! I'm telling you I'll hit you anyway you dork."

"I need to have a talk with Amethyst about your 'Earth Lessons'." he grumbled through a grin.

She tilted her head, "What, is 'dork' another of those cursed words?"

"No but the S H one was kind of. I mean it's not a bad one but Pearl would still throw a fit if she heard."

"Mmm." she dramatically put her hands together in front of her chin like she was deep in thought. "What about F-"

She almost toppled over as the ship shook, her arms stretched so she could grab the hull and hold on. No, not just the ship- the ground. Steven climbed to his feet, his flip flops had surprisingly good traction on whatever the ship was made of, and quickly surveyed the area. The Gem's were all on their loaders, trying to speed back to the ship now from the base of the Hub. The right was clear, just the lake on that side, but the left.

A plume of dust rose as a spout of water erupted from the ground, blanketing the area around it in a thin haze. Barely a moment later, a dozen gems poured out of the water-bored tunnel. Three of them flew.

The three airborne gems were dark blue with dresses in different styles. One had fluffy hair with a long dress and her gem on her chest. Another had a ruffled but loose dress with curly hair and her gem on her right foot. And the final gem had choppy hair and a split dress which revealed the length of her right leg and the gem on her right thigh. Glistening wings of water framed them, refracting the sunlight that shone through. Lapis Lazulis.

"You lot slow down the Rebels! We'll take care of the Organic." The curly haired Lapis called down to the other gems- He recognized Yellow Topazes and Red Carnelians which made up most of the group.

"We need to get on the ground. Grab on."

"I- What?" Spinel paused for a second before wrapping her arms around him. Then he jumped. "WA STEVEN NO!"

'Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Cookie Cats and hanging out with Connie and binging Camp Pining Hearts with Peridot-' his descent slowed as he shut his eyes and focused in. His feet touched the ground gently.

Spinel let out a shaky breath and whispered "Maybe next time warn me eh?" She let him go, stepping to his right and readying herself for the fight.

"Sorry." He summoned his shield on his left arm and braced himself. As the Lapis trio swooped down he lifted his shield. A deep roar like a crashing wave assaulted his ears, then a thin spray of mist, but no impact. He peaked up from behind the shield, wondering if they had missed. And went cold. 'Oh no.'

They hadn't been aiming for him or Spinel. About twenty feet in front of them the ground was split, sliced cleanly so a deep crevice separated the Crystal Gems from Steven. On the other side the Gems were fighting now- two of the pods were dented in and grounded, the third with Amethyst inside had several gems clinging to the outside. He didn't have time to focus on their fight though.

On his and Spinel's side were the three Lapis, as well as a couple Carnelians who hadn't been quick enough who now turned their attention to him. It felt like he'd just swallowed dirt- which to be fair he might have considering how much had been flung around. Their backs to the ship, outnumbered in front and cut off from the Crystal Gems. This was bad. The Lazulis swooped in again, their dresses flowing behind them as they laughed.

"Well well that went pretty well if I do say so myself." The Fluffy Lapis said.

"Did you doubt my plan?" The Curly Lapis sounded marginally offended at that, but before they could bicker further the final Lapis spoke up.

"Banter later. Let's just poof her," Thighy- he needed a better name for that one- waved a hand at Spinel is disdain, "her toy and grab the Organic already."

"Toy." He heard Spinel hiss through her teeth. "Oi who are you callin' toy-"

He blinked and heard a loud thud behind him and Spinel was gone. The mist spray hit his face a second later. She was soaked and kneeling by the ship. His gaze whipped back around to the trio.

"You, idiot." Thighy smirked.

Curly lifted her arm and clenched her hand into a fist, causing water to rapidly gather around Steven in a loose chain form. He formed his bubble, sending the water splashing away. "That's not happening-" He started to say before a pink blur shot past him, springing straight up for Thighy with fists pulled back. Before she got close a wall of water rose in her way. She slammed into it like it was a brick wall, rebounding and rolling beside Steven.

"Spinel!" He dropped the bubble to reach out to her. That was a mistake, as the instant his bubble dropped the watery shackles formed again, tighter this time around each wrist. They pulled him straight up out of Spinel's reach as she flailed to grab him.

"STEVEN!"

He cried out- a searing pain whipped across his chest when he tried to form his bubble again. When he looked down the front of his shirt was damp from more than just water. It took him a second to process everything that was happening as a sphere of water formed around his head.

* * *

"STEVEN!" her voice was hoarse the second time as tears of terror and rage poured down her face. She tried to stretch out to him but one Carnelian tackled her, pinning her to the ground as the other two ran over. They were talking but she didn't hear anything. There was a throbbing in her head, a steady beat that broke up her thoughts. She couldn't lose him. Not again. She had to get to him. She couldn't fail again. Not now. Not ever.

Everything snapped back into focus. One of the Carnelians spears were raised. Ready to shatter her. Her leg compressed, coiling into a spring and snapping out like a whip, poofing the quartz soldier instantly as her foot cleared straight through her physical form and out the other side. Quartzes might be soldiers but she was the harder gem here. Before the other two could react she rolled her body, slinking out of their grip and launching herself to the side. She leapt for the Lazulis again but the Carnelian that had pinned her down grabbed her legs before she could spring away. Which was just fine by her. She let her form stretch out almost to full length, carried by the momentum of her jump. Then she snapped back like a rubber band, slamming the quartz into the ground with a violent crack as one of the soldier's arms bent the wrong way.

"Well you're a tough cookie aint ya? That'd poof any ordinary gem." She snarled and slinked upwards, arms wrapped around the damaged gem as her companion looked on terrified. She planted her boots against the hull and sprung into the air with the Carnelian trailing behind her. The Lazulis were nearing the tunnel, focused on the Crystal Gems and not their rear, and Steven was- Her form shuddered, her breath catching. He was dangling below them with his head encased in water, his body limp. She let out a roar and spun, launching the screaming Carnelian at the Lapis that had Steven in chains. She had barely a moment to recognize what was flying at her before she was sent careening towards the ground, dropping Steve. Thankfully whichever Lapis held the bubble around his head lost focus and dropped it at the sudden attack.

She wouldn't have been shocked if she broke something with how fast she flew into Steven. She wrapped her arms around him tight and nearly started sobbing when he started coughing and heaved in several deep breaths. It was only a moment of relief though. She curled around him and stretched, trying to shield him before they skidded into the ground. She felt her form tattering as they drove a shallow trench in the thankfully soft dirt, bits of rock and gravel slicing her arm and tearing her puffed sleeves.

* * *

There was a ringing in his head when Spinel pulled him up from the hole. He tried to get his feet under him but they just weren't working right. Everything went kind of blurry for a moment and when it cleared he was sitting on the ground. It did clear though, minus the migrain, and he forced himself to stand shakily as Spinel stared down the Lazulis once again.

"Feisty feisty, mmm." Fluffy started but Curly cut her off.

"Enough! Let's just shatter this idiot and go before-"

"Before what?" Steven had never been so happy to hear that voice. Garnet marched past Steven and Spinel both and slammed her gauntlets together, doubling their size. Amethyst followed suit on the other side, whips out and ready. Then he was wrapped in a hug and Pearl began to pour over every one of his injuries.

Thighy dipped instantly, swooping for the tunnel and splashing water in her wake. And not a moment too soon, as Amethyst's whip lashed out, severing Curly's gem-bearing foot which poofed her instantly and sent Fluffy running- erm flying.

The Crystal Gems all rushed back to his side, prioritizing Steven over chasing down the Homeworld gems. He tried to look reassuring but his forced half-smile didn't seem to help and he dropped the act pretty quickly. Now that the adrenaline was fading he just. Hurt. His head was pounding, his limbs ached, he just. Wanted to rest. He didn't protest when Spinel picked him up. He barely registered when Iolite ran to meet them on the ramp in a panic. He failed to notice Pearl watching him as he faded into unconsciousness finally on the ship. The only thought that managed to form, was that he had failed yet again.


	12. Chapter 12: Connection

A light breeze drifted in as the tent flap opened behind her, carrying the scents of mud and grass. She wasn't sure she would ever get used to those. She could tell it was Strawberry Calcite, she didn't even need to say anything, she could recognize her emotions now as long as she was close enough. She kept her eyes forwards though, watching the room. Hundreds of colored orbs bobbed gently in the air, cast in shadow with only flickers of light playing off the surface of the gems inside. Cracked gems. Some split nearly in two, others with large chips or splits across their surface.

"Flint?"

They had to be kept like this, for their own safety. They were in pain otherwise-

Calcite put a hand on her shoulder. "Flint, come on."

"I can't just leave them.." Even unconscious the cracked gems fumed to her, rolling torrents of negative energy that pulled at her. It triggered her ingrained coding, telling her she had to help them, that she needed to help them, but.

"We can't do anything for them right now."

"I don't care!" she pulled away. "I have to be here! Just for a while."

The bigger gem sat next to her and put a hand back on her shoulder. "I know. I know.."

They sat like that for some time. Red Flint wasn't sure how long even but eventually the compulsion faded. It still nagged deep in her gem, but it wasn't demanding now. She let out a long breath, expelling some of her own stress.

"Thank you."

She was pulled into a side-hug by Calcite "Don't worry about it. You good?"

Good was a little subjective, especially right now, but she nodded anyway. "I'm good."

Just then the flap of the tent pushed open again, revealing a Rutile. She peaked her head in and locked her sight on Calcite immediately. "AH Strawberry Calcite! WE um."

Calcite stood with a kind smile, "Easy now. Wussup?"

The Rutile paused to focus before continuing. "We received a signal from Earth."

"Earth? Pink Diamond?" Flint stood as Calcite exclaimed that.

"Y-yes. It's a live feed, they said our Ruby arrived and-"

"Are they still live?"

"They are waiting for you yes."

"ON ME?! OH! Let's go then stars!" She stepped up to the tent flap then paused, looking back to her. "Oh ah, you too please? This is ah, gonna be a lot."

She could read between the lines. She needed someone there with her. "Of course!" How could she say no now?

Outside the tent the world was bustling. Hundreds of similar canvas structures dotted the desolate lands that were once the edge of a Kindergarten, and past the tents great crystal structures that made up the colony proper rose on the horizon. In the opposite direction, nature flourished. Strange plants their hosts identified as 'trees' loomed, while grass and brush blanketed the forest floor. Patches of grass had even slowly begun to regrow on the fringes of the scarred ground.

This colony had only been about a third completed when Pink's message reached the universe. Many of the gems involved had once worked on one of Yellow Diamond's colonies and had some limited experience with the youngest Diamond, and a revolt quickly saw rebels seizing control of the planet and it's moons.

The Nephrites that brought them to the colony had been running supplies back and forth before the rebellion and kept in touch with the colony because of it. When they heard what happened they planned on fleeing there from Homeworld, but not before hearing about Calcite's own planned exodus. It was practically a miracle they had survived it turned out, which was far from comforting to Flint.

They passed the last rows of tents and entered the city, making their way to the Communication Hub swiftly.

The terminal glowed back to life on Calcite's cue, revealing the Crystal Gems. Pink was nowhere in sight, instead at the front and center stood a tall gem with a visor and box-like hair. To her right was the rogue pearl- Pink's pearl rather. And to her left was a short overcooked Amethyst, the same that had allegedly bested Homeworld's strongest Jasper, The Unbroken, if the rumors were true. Tales of the rebels had spread far and fast following Pink's message, with a small group of Rubies coming forward about their missions to Earth and their encounters. So she could gather the tall one was the fusion that called herself Garnet.

"Where is Pink Diamond?" Calcite's tone was sharp, unexpectedly so. It caught Flint and seemingly the Crystal Gems as well off guard. "Why is she not here?"

The Pearl scowled, "Steven, not Pink Diamond."

"Yea dude sheesh, wrong name and pronouns." The Amethyst quipped.

"Are we to assume this matter is below her then, not worth your leader's time?"

Garnet's tone was level but with an edge of ice. "I am leading the Crystal Gems currently. So no."

Flint remained quiet, merely observing for now. Calcite's emotions were intense to say the least and she didn't know why.

"So Pink Diamond can start wars but she's too much of a coward to involve herself?"

"I'm done." The Garnet reached up to turn off the terminal but the Pearl stopped her.

"NO Garnet." She whispered something to the fusion, who pursed her lips and stared directly at Calcite unflinching. Then finally she nodded.

Then she summoned her gauntlets, slamming them together in front of her.

"You will refer to Steven by his name, quit misgendering him. He isn't his mother. Steven is not here because he was injured in the mission that made us able to communicate with you at all and needs to recover. Furthermore he will not be getting involved in this war any more than he absolutely has to- he is too young for this. Refuse to accept any of this and we cut you off. We've got too many cells to deal with as it is. Got it?"

Anger changed to confusion, then annoyance, then back to a more mellowed anger. 'Calcite come on. Calm. Down.' she thought to herself. 'Don't get emotional right now.'

"Fine. He's really, half organic huh? Wasn't sure I believed the story but I can tell from you all."

The tension eased somewhat, 'Oh thank the stars.' for a minute there she was worried about Calcite.

"It was a lot for us too. But back on topic. We'll need to send you some data- we are keeping everything vague for every cell so one insider can't out the whole operation, obviously. You'll need to fill us in on your situation more as well. Anything we need to worry about on your end? Was your escape... clean?"

Flint flinched, which the fusion seemed to catch. She watched her for a long moment. Then Calcite gestured for her to talk. "Not exactly no. We ah... lost a lot of gems. Most are cracked but some shattered too. We're.. keeping them in bubbles so they can't get hurt further." Calcite nodded to that, and the room went quiet for a moment.

The Crystal Gems were whispering to each other again. This time it was very brief and Garnet spoke up again.

"We can help with that."

"Wait what!?" Flint and Calcite exclaimed.

"We- Steven rather, can heal cracked gems."

It was just a glimmer. A faint hope, hard to believe for the two. But they both felt it, Flint could feel. She could help them. They weren't lost. It took everything in her power to hold back the tears. Shock and joy in equal measures overwhelmed her. Calcite knew how much this meant to Flint even without empath abilities, and spoke for her.

"You would- do that?"

Garnet adjusted her visior, "I can tell we don't exactly see eye to eye here. But we are on the same side in all of this. Even if you don't centralize with us, Steven wouldn't want any gems to be suffering." and finally the visor tilted so the two were reflected in it, staring back at themselves as she added. "But of course if you did join us, you'd have access to that healing whenever you need in the future as well. Makes you lot's odds of surviving this war a hell of a lot better."


	13. Chapter 13: Fountain Talk

**Starting shortly before and running through Chapter 12...**

He had enough of his wits about him to remember to dissipate his jacket a moment before Spinel lowered him into the Fountain. He took a shaky breath as he was embraced by the healing tears, instantly feeling several bruises numb and fade, as well as a couple minor seams from self-healed fractures vanish as the bones mended together the final bit they needed to be perfect again. Those were always the hardest to heal on his own. His head remained fuzzy and ached though, despite clearing up minorly.

He noticed the rips in Spinel's clothes mend as well as she pulled her arms out of the water to leave him floating. He enjoyed floating in water, it was incredibly relaxing even if the stillness felt somewhat unnatural compared to the gentle ocean ripples he was used to.

He turned his head. The Gems were all watching him silently, concern blatant on their faces, tempered quickly by relief.

"Phew. Good thing we've got this old thing still eh?" Amethyst smiled.

He smiled. He remembered when they uncovered the fountain for the first time, restoring the garden from the bamble nightmare it had become. And- he turned his head so they couldn't see the smile fall away. Amethyst had nearly died in the process. A lot of his memories were like that.

"Did you guys get enough pillars to fix the tower then?" Need to derail that train of thought.

"Oh! Yes, we grabbed a couple extra even." Pearl put on an air of optimism.

"Ha! Yea even though it all went a bit tits up at the end was a win for us on both fronts."

"AMETHYST! Language!" came Pearl's shrill reprimand.

"Once you've healed up we can rebuild that tower now. Y-" Garnet spoke over the two as they continued their bickering, all of which stopped abruptly when he spoke up.

"No it's fine. Don't let me hold you back or anything, I'll be safe here."

That tone gave them pause, momentarily.

"Are you. Sure?" The concern was palpable from Pearl. Did she think he could somehow manage to get himself into trouble even here?

"Yes, I'm sure. Literally nothing can get into this garden. I'll be fine."

Garnet broke the silence like usual. "If you're certain, then the Communication Hub is fairly urgent."

He turned back to them again and nodded. "You all get on that. I need a while to rest anyway."

Garnet guided Amethyst and Pearl out without much hassle but he could hear them whispering at they went. He sighed and leaned back to stare up at the sky. It was nearing dusk but it was still moderately light and warm out here. 'I wonder where the garden actually is on Earth.' he mused. He'd never actually gotten around to asking, it wasn't really important.

"So. You're wearing projected clothes? I assumed it was human stuff. Like. Physical." Spinel hopped up onto the lip of the fountain and sat with her legs crossed.

"Oh ha yea. I figured out I could do that before all this started- the transmission that is. It's more convenient for like if it gets hot out or something while I'm walking in town. Instead of taking the jacket off and having to carry it around it just. Poof. And it's gone." His head was starting to clear up a lot faster, the headache fading finally somewhat. "I mostly just do it with my jacket. It's the easiest for me to maintain- and if I get distracted or something my whole outfit doesn't just. Um. Go." He felt his face heat up "Not that it would, I don't know actually. Just. Better safe than sorry haha aaah."

"Uhhu." He looked up at her as she looked down at him. Rather she stared at his right arm where his largest bruise was still healing.

"You alright?" He asked her.

"I just um.. I." She sniffled, her hands shaking "Shit no you almost died, I'm not ok! How are you not freaking out right now?"

"It's... Not really a rare occurrence for me at this point..." He winced, poor choice of words. "But I'm fine, it's alright. It all worked out in the end."

"But what if it doesn't! What if the next time I- I'm not fast enough. Or I get poofed. Or I'm not even around! I can't lose you again-" She gripped her leg tightly and wiped the tears off her face.

There is was. The catch. He watched the clouds above them glide by as they sat silent for a long time. On his right sat Spinel, gazing off at nothing in particular. And on his left the statue of his mother loomed over them both. He couldn't be her. The events in White's Head cast away any doubts about that. But people still wanted him to be. The Diamonds, Spinel, so many of the refugees that had come to Earth...

"So, how long does this usually take?" Spinel asked. He forgot sometimes she hasn't seen most of the Gem sites yet, including this garden and the fountain.

"Depends. For head injuries it's usually slower." He sat up so he was sitting in the fountain now facing her.

"So, how have you been? Emotionally I mean." She clarified quickly.

Another sigh. "I don't know, the same I guess? I'm not really up for talking about it right now honestly. You?"

"The same, more or.. less, yea." She slid down from the fountain to stand beside it when he stood himself. "You need to be more careful in the future."

He huffed "It's not like I got hurt on purpose!"

"I know, if you had I'd hit you remember? Heh.. Just ah. You know what I mean." he took her hand when she offered it, pulling himself out of the fountain.

"Yea, I know what you mean. You too ok?"


	14. Chapter 14: An Ok Birthday

Before he knew it August had arrived, and his Birthday with it. The gems spent the weekend planning, he'd told them he wasn't really interested in the usual fuss with the crown and cloak and such so they had to come up with something new from scratch with Dad's help. And now, they were setting it up. And he was stuck in Amethyst's room until it was time so he didn't spoil the surprise or something. At least he had company though. And music, since she'd found a working cd player.

"So its like... every year? Every year?" Spinel asked again, incredulous.

"Yeap, most people anyway."

"That. Is amazing."

Amethyst slid down from one of her piles of junk- she'd spent some time actually organizing again and actually gotten rid of a lot of it finally so the mounds were closer to stacks and they were smaller and fewer in number now.

"Bah! Yea and the best part is there's candy and cake and tons of other food! Have you tried cake yet?"

Spinel shook her head with a jingle, "Don' think so! I can't wait!" Amethyst's 'Earth Lessons' had been going well enough, even if the material was sometimes questionable- Spinel had picked up her fair share of words that Pearl really did not approve of at all, some Steven didn't even know! Some of it was more harmless, like eating and walking across roads and stuff too though. She'd really grown into her own helping new gems out with that stuff and getting them to loosen up. She was still, as terrifying as it was to admit, the most mature Crystal Gem.

Amethyst snorted, "Hey Steven remember that time I smacked a pinata into the ocean? That was awesome! ...before I found out there was candy in it."

"What, whoa! Human stuff is awesome. There's so many weird celebrations and stuff."

"Heh yeah. We make up a lot of excuses to party." He pushed himself up from where he'd been lounging on the floor and looked the two over. Spinel got along surprisingly well with Amethyst, which was nice since she spent so much time with him and he liked to hang out with the purple gem.

"Aye Spinel your turn to grab drinks." Amethyst leaned back, "I'm feelin' grape soda."

"I'll just take a water." The two had passed off catering duty back and forth for the last few hours, which was a nice idea though Spinel always looked a little reluctant to go. She'd said she wanted to be surprised too so she wasn't peeking out the windows.

"Ahllllrighty. I'll be back in a jiffy!" She hopped up and ambled out. He had to hold in a sigh, even with it being his birthday he was having a hard time keeping up the smiles. It wasn't like the gems were hiding this whole war thing from him, they just always went quiet about it unless asked. It was plain as day they didn't think he could handle it, didn't want him to make things worse again. All his calls since the transmission had just progressively made things worse.

"Hey." His eyes shot back open and Amethyst was looking down at him. "Do you like need to talk or somethin'?"

The music cut abruptly when she asked, the cd player only letting lose distorted static.

"No," his voice cracked so he cleared his throat. "Why do you ask?"

Her gaze narrowed just slightly. "Dude, that's why. You've been acting like. Really out of it. And you look like shit no offense."

"Pssssh naw. I look great." The circles under his eyes spoiled to act. "I've just been recovering. From when I screwed up on the mission."

"Even before that you've been holed up in the house, you barely go out with Connie or in general-"

"She's been busy studying!" He sat up and turned away, making himself busy looking over one of the nearly piles.

"Look, Steven man. If there is something going on like. You can talk about it alright?"

He took a shallow breath. "Everything's fine." He lied. "I'm just..."

Thankfully the Temple door opened finally and Spinel bounded in. He blinked away a tear and quickly put a grin back on. It wasn't wholly fake either, he was actually relieved she was back- maybe Amethyst would drop it now.

"Steven Steven Steven Steven! PARTY!" She bounced rapidly, squeaking. "Come on they are ready!" Without even a pause to breath she bent backwards, doing backwards cartwheels out the door again.

'Oh thank god.' He kept up a hasty stride away, the cd player finally coming back to life. He didn't need more of Amethyst's prying right now.

Out on the beach just in front of the Temple several canopy tents were set up with streamers hanging between the poles. A tarp was laid out under the tents over the sand with one of those plastic fold-out tables full of chips, pizza, and two cakes. Garnet and Pearl were all stood at the front, with Greg and Uncle Andy to their left and Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot to their right. A bit behind them were the Off-Colors and Lars, and Connie and her parents.

Amethyst grinned, giving a little playful push as she stepped out after him. "Come on you're blockin' the stairs."

Everyone gave a single cheer when he started down the steps. Spinel slinked back to his side quickly, "Oh here's your water by the way!" she slid a bottle of water into his jacket pocket and patted it, skimming the gathering with him. And then she spotted Lars. "Oh wow I didn't know humans came in pink!" And she was gone.

He shook his head and chuckled quietly, waving to everyone- he didn't know who to talk to first so he just defaulted to Connie and headed her way while the rest of the party-goers dipped up their food.

"Hey! Happy birthday Jam Bud."

"Heh thanks." They hugged, then had an awkward second or two of standing too close together while they mutually debated a kiss or not before they both decided to not and stepped back a little. They'd been officially dating for a little under a year but they were both a bit iffy on PDA. "Sooo. How's highschool been?"

"It's been alright I guess, nothing exciting really. Cram School has been good too but all the extra studying is killing my free time, its exhausting. I feel like we haven't talked in a month."

"Ahaaa yea." Actually he was pretty sure it had been a month. He needed to force himself to text more often sheesh. "I wish I could go to your school but I don't think they would let me at this point." He'd gone to preschool when he was really little, at least Dad said he had, he didn't remember anything about it. But since then he'd just done off and on homeschooling. He didn't even think the Gems had registered him either so even that didn't really count.

"You know you could probably get a GED right?"

"What's a GED?"

"It's basically like a certificate that says you have a high school level education. So you have to take a test for it to prove you actually know everything a high school graduate would and they give you a bunch of study material. You can take a condensed online class for it too but it costs more- uh, Steven?"

He blinked, he'd been zoning out thinking about it. "That sounds awesome."

"Wait really?"

"Yes really, I always wanted to go to school but you know all this ah. Stuff. Kind of kept me busy."

"Oh, yea true. Weren't you being homeschooled by Pearl?"

"Kind of, I don't think they registered though so it didn't count? But I was good at math." he paused to take a drink of water, staring off at the rest of the party. "I could definitely get a GED." And once he did, he could get into whatever college Connie went to. It would work out perfectly.

"Yea! I'm going to go grab some cake, you want a slice?"

"Sure, chocolate." He'd need to look into this GED stuff, but it sounded perfect to him.

As she walked away though he felt a twinge of pain, and guilt. He hadn't talked to her in a month and he hadn't even realized. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Amethyst was right. He needed to talk about how he was feeling. But... College Cramming was taking a lot out of Connie already, even before she started that she spent most of her time on school work and now- 'She doesn't need the extra stress of dealing with my issues right now.' he sighed. 'I need to just be there for her as much as a can right now and try to not be a burden.'

"Heheya Steven." He was jarred out of his thoughts by Bismuth's greeting as the big gem stepped up next to him and patted him on the shoulder, followed by Peridot and Lapis. He must have really been out of it to have not heard her armor clanking up to him.

"Oh hey guys. How have you all been?"

"We've been great! Honestly as much as I love growing plants it's been fun putting my more technical skills to use again!" Peridot beamed. "Organizing Kindergartens is surprisingly similar to planning a city's layout."

Lapis snorted "I haven't had an excuse to really use my water powers to their fullest in years either. Putting them to work on something more constructive for once has been nice."

"That's great." He was happy for them. They had a lot to work out after they made it back to Earth, despite being forgiven by Peridot pretty much immediately Lapis had spent a lot of time trying to make up for abandoning her. She'd even had Bismuth help her rebuild the barn closer to town. Speaking of.

"Honestly as much as I love forging, architecture is really fun. Laying out foundations, building scaffolding Mhm."

He spent another half hour talking with everyone, accompanied by Connie and later Spinel as well. She was finally starting to come out of her shell and was trying befriending more people. He ate enough pizza and cake that he started to feel bloated. His Dad passed along a card from Sadie, who was still on tour with the Suspects.

"Man this is nothing like my 17th birthday." His dad said between bites of pizza.

"Really?"

"Oh yea. My 'party' was just the family sitting around in the living room waiting for meatloaf to cook. I got socks! Socks!" Greg shook his head. "My Aunt and Uncle were my only saving grace. They just gave me cash. And that gave me an idea. Started doing odd jobs around, saving up my money. My whole life turned around when I was finally able to buy the van."

He didn't talk much about his side of the family, so Steven was fascinated. And taken by surprise when Dad pulled out a keychain. "Catch."

"What-" he grabbed it out of the air and looked down. It had one of those plastic art things of a moon with a slice missing- "Dad- The Dondai!?"

"Yeap! You'll need to get a learners permit so I can teach you how to drive but she's all yours. I've barely driven her since I bought her anyway and I figure it'll be good for you ya know? To have that freedom I got from my van. You can just drive around and figure things." He pulled him unto a hug, "Happy 17th birthday Steven."


	15. Chapter 15: Prison Break

"I am fairly certain this isn't how you get to the Server Hub-" The Peridot's voice cut abruptly as she thrust the dagger through her back. White Sapphire gritted her teeth and twisted the dagger as the taller gem took several desperate shallow gasps for air before finally dissipating. She didn't give herself a chance to think, if she stopped now she would crack. She scooped the gem off the ground and rushed for the Writing Room with typical sapphire speed, her bare feet tapping like gunfire against the stone floors. These side passages were abandoned as always, and even if they weren't she had no time for caution right now.

Every time she tried to gaze into the future she was met with horrific visions. Being captured, shattered by a Topaz. Dissipated by Yellow Diamond. Thrown off the walkways of the prison. And of Forsterite- No. She couldn't dwell on her future sight right now. It was too biased, that had to be why she only saw death in front of her. She refused to accept the alternative.

The number of Quartzes outside the doors was double the usual but she ignored them all, speeding past them and into the chamber. Before the other rebels could even process that she was there she slammed the peridot's gem into the Writer and began typing frantically. Five hours. It had been five hours since Forsterite was captured. Yellow's Peridots had discovered that someone had been tampering with their equipment in the Network Halls, where Fors had been accessing the Yellow Court's databanks. So they had arranged an ambush. Only one of the Gray Quartzes sent to escort Fors had made it back to tell the rebels what had happened.

The Peridot had been an Era 1 creation, so she was already the right height. Coding her coloration to make her off-color like Fors was trickier, all that saturation had to go somewhere so she gave the peridot a nice lime green pair of socks so the rest of her body would be washed out olive color. Her boots would hide the discrepancy anyway. When Wiss heard the news she nearly seized up from the overwhelming emotions. But she pulled herself together and whipped the others into action swiftly. It had taken an hour to find an Era 1 Peridot with the same gem placement as Fors- on her right shoulder facing outwards. Another 2 hours to come up with a story and matching credentials to lure her away. And now... To Overwrite her with the Writer.

It was going to be, unstable. The Writer worked best with small modifications. Implanting false memories or altering existing ones, coding in secret tasks that could be triggered by the rebels. That was easy and relatively safe if the proper time was spent. But she didn't have the time to spare, and what she was doing to this gem was far more extensive. Total personality Overwriting and appearance modification. To make her look and act like Forsterite would. Rebellious intent, disrespect for authority- that was a hard one given how much Peridots fawned over higher ranking gems typically. Such drastic changes coupled with the speed they were being performed, the coding wouldn't last a week. She only needed it to stick for a day or two though.

By the end of the Writing process she was exhausted, wet streaks of sweat and tears trailing down her face and chin. She wiped herself off with her dress and grabbed the Peridot's gem from the Writer. It radiated heat, glowing a dull green that burned her palms when she pulled it loose but she barely noticed the pain as she bubbled the gem and hid it under the ruffles of her dress. When she turned to leave one of the Quartz, Spike she called herself, stepped in her way.

"I'm coming with you." She looked so determined, and terrified. But mostly determined.

Wiss waved her away. "Fors was caught being escorted by White Quartzes, you would draw too much attention to me. I must go alone." She glided past the giant gem, very aware of the dozens of sets of eyes on her back as she marched. They were all terrified. White Sapphire and Forsterite were the heart and mind of the entire operation. The visionaries, the leaders, and their choice for rulers when the Diamonds were finally overthrown. They had already lost Fors and now their level headed strategist was a maelstrom marching head first into the enemy's hands. She didn't fault their lacking optimism.

Anxieties played out a thousand ways this mission could fail in her mind's eye. To the point that she could no longer distinguish her fears from her actual visions anymore and shut them out once again. She could only pray now. The odds should be in her favor, impeding a member of White's Court, especially one as rare and of such high status as a White Sapphire, was nearly unthinkable normally. But these were not normal times. Forsterite bore the mark of White's Court as well, and was captured alongside two White Quartzes. Still, the guards' ingrained coding to obey and cooperate with her should be enough to get her inside despite this. She would just need to talk around them.

What gem in their right minds would even suspect a pristine high class White Court member of having any involvement with something as horrid as an Off-Color, let alone a Rebel.

The gatehouse of the Prison loomed over Yellow's military district. Gem soldiers of every type marched about on tasks, guarding doors or escorting key researchers to and fro. And the gate itself was a meter thick door of metal secured on both sides with energy fields. The guards outside were two Topaz fusions, unusually heavy security given the automated defenses the prison also held. They knew the value of their captive.

"Halt and identify!"

She was composed. Cold. Steady. She projected her voice clearly and spoke with as much authority as she could muster. "I have been ordered to inspect the rebel prisoner with my future vision to see what I might glean from them."

"Uh." The Topaz on the left glanced to the one on the right, "I don't think that's how future vision works."

"Perhaps not for an ordinary Sapphire." She laced her words with venom as she continued, "Do you presume to know the limitations of one of White Diamond's Court?"

Another nervous glance between themselves, before she shook her head. "No, of course not. Please present your gem for identification."

No way to avoid it without raising suspicion. She spread her arms slightly, giving them a good view of the gem in her abdomen, exposed through a diamond-shaped cut in her dress which framed the rare gem perfectly. The quieter Topaz raised a device to scan the gem, then nodded and tapped the pad by the door and letting her enter. They were wise enough to not offer her directions, for fear of insulting her Sight, but unfortunately she could have used that right now.

She closed her eyes as she walked, letting the visions of her shattering guide her in glimpses to the correct cell. When she was certain, she slid her hand over the pad and the seamless door slid away to reveal a small rounded dull-yellow chamber. In the center Forsterite hung in the air in a faintly yellow bubble. She took a sharp breath and slid the cell door shut. Then she reached under the ruffles of her dress and twisted a metal device, a jammer. The monitoring equipment in the cell should be disabled now. She couldn't confirm if she wanted to, she just had to trust in Fors' work.

She pulled out the bubbled Peridot and swapped the two. Her bubble was white, but given the yellow lighting in the prison it was hard to tell the difference. She popped Fors' bubble and dropped her gem down her blouse before turning and marching out once more. She gripped her hands together to stop them shaking, forced herself to breath slowly. Her future sight was unreadable, too many possibilities that she couldn't stand to focus on to clear up. She had to hurry, she-

"Stop! You there!" It was the Topaz guards. They blocked the route out. She was trapped she was going to be shattered she- she had to get past them but-

"Yellow Diamond has requested your presence along with the rebel gem. She wants to hear your report directly."

"Unfortunately I am to report to White Diamond and only White Diamond. Any delays in my report are unacceptable." She could work with this, please just buy it. Please.

"I apologise but my Diamond was very insistent."

She swallowed hard. And nodded, pursing her lips visibly. "Very well then. MY Diamond will be most displeased." The talkative Topaz left to retrieve the false Fors while the other stayed with her, watching silently. She could try to take her out now, but they had a scan of her gem, and if she was poofed then they would find Forsterite. It was too risky. She had to try and play along, and maybe- just maybe- she could still get them both out of this. She had to believe that.

Before long, the other Topaz fusion returned with the bubbled peridot, and the two escorted her further and further from the exit, towards the interior bailey. More Topaz fusions stood outside the collosal doorway, a door engraved with depictions of the Unification Wars and Yellow's conquests during the end of them, as well as the imposing Diamond herself. The doors slid open.

She was no less imposing in person, a colossal gem by most standards, to the shorter Sapphire she was enormous. But she had been in the presence of White herself, and compared to her... Yellow was nowhere near as overwhelming. At Yellow's side were two Emeralds- neither were the Emerald unfortunately, that would have given her something to work with. And around them were a dozen more Topaz fusions. They were taking no chances.

White Sapphire bowed deeply and elegantly, staring directly at the floor. Waiting.

"Mmm. Unbubble the off-color." Her voice echoed, itching at her coding despite her thousands of years of treason. The compulsion to obey was uncomfortable, but irresistible to her even with the order directed at someone else. The Topaz bearing the bubbled Peridot did not even try. The false gem clattered to the floor after it's bubble was popped, and instantly started to reform.

As it flicked through its forms she prayed the silhouettes would go unnoticed. And thankfully they seemed to be, as the Peridot finally took its current, Overwritten form. Dull olive skin and hair, dark clothing and shorts. A White Diamond Sigil on its chest. She could tell instantly every way it was wrong, it looked nothing like her Fors. But these other gems, they didn't know her as well as she did. And they did not notice a thing even as the Peridot scrambled, gaze darting about before locking onto Yellow Diamond, full of terror.

She felt sick in her core, a pit of self loathing and guilt. She knew she was condemning this innocent gem to torture and shattering, before she had even started she knew the outcome of this. She'd had to. She had to to save Forsterite.

"Well? What do you see?" It was phrased like a question but held the weight of an order.

Wiss took a small moment to consider, or look as though she considered. Before shaking her head, "This gem's fate is decided. No rescue will come, no further rebels are revealed. I can see nothing of use, my Diamond." She curtseyed and waited once more. She had to keep her composure. Any slip and she was dead. Yellow could destroy her right here. Right now. She'd seen it happen already. She knew it was coming.

"Leave us." Yellow ordered. The tone sent ripples of fear through her. Dissatisfaction. Annoyance. Resentment at her wasted time. All directed at her.

"My Diamond." She saluted and turned on her heels, marching out as quickly as she could. But there was no relief as a new fear crept through her now, as she felt Forsterite's gem begin to warm. She was reforming. As soon as the doors slid shut behind her she bolted, the Topazes could think whatever they wanted of it, if Fors reformed in front of them they were both dead. She moved with dizzying speed, whipping around several corners to an empty corner of the Prison and grabbing Forsterite's gem from her blouse as it started to glow.

Fors' form flickered between her various past selves, each making Wiss more and more anxious before it finally settled on her new form and she materialized, dropping to her knees in front of her. Fors lacked her material additions, like her visor, gloves, boots and toolbelt, but it was unmistakably her.

".. Wiss?" she looked confused, "What are you-" She didn't get to finish. White Sapphire grabbed the lapels of Fors' vest and pulled the off-color in for a long and passionate kiss, tears streaming from her eye and blurring her sight. When she finally eased her grip and they parted she saw Fors was crying as well. "Why did you come for me? We agreed we'd never-"

"I don't care! I- I couldn't just let them shatter you!"

"They could have shattered you! They- Where. Where are we?" The realization set in. The pale-yellow walls, glistening but uniform and smooth. "We're still in the prison."

Wiss couldn't stop sniffling. She knew exactly how dire the situation was right now. They were together again but they were still probably going to die. She couldn't admit that though. "You started to reform before I could get out, but if we play this smart w-we can still-"

"You! Why were you- run... ning..." The rebels' heads whipped around. At the end of the hall stood a triple Topaz fusion. She stammered for a moment, stunned at the sight. Not believing it. The rebel, the off-color Forsterite. And the White Sapphire. And they had kissed- oh no. The Topaz slammed the button on her belt and the alarms started.

_To be continued in Chapter 16..._


	16. Chapter 16: A Long Fall

She froze. The thin veil between her future sight and reality torn, unable to act. The prison's alarms blared rhythmically and echoed down the long corridors. The Topaz drew her destabilizer. White Sapphire felt her hands going numb. There was a flash and a roar as the air between them superheated for an instant and the Topaz fusion fell apart, its component gems dissipating and clattering across the floor. Wiss looked up as Fors slid her Energy Rifle back into her gem then grabbed her hand firmly.

"Run."

And they did. Wiss closed her eye as they sprinted, focusing on the moment. Fors' hand. Their footsteps as they ran. Her sight eased back and she pushed it away. She couldn't afford to get emotional again and lose herself. Her grip on Fors' hand tightened and she took the lead and in moments she was pulling Fors behind her as they zoomed down the halls, her bare feet tapped away but were drowned out by the alarms. The pale yellow halls were just streaks of faint color around them.

They whipped around a corner, angling for the entryway that was so far beyond their reach. Wiss remembered the layout, she knew how far it was but if they could just get back onto the main passage-. And then they were met by Topaz Guards. She turned, dragging Fors around another bend into another group of guards. Down the path they had come from she heard more boots marching. They were surrounded.

She released Fors' hand and flung herself forwards, taking one of the Topazes by surprise as the sheer momentum of the tiny gem took her off her feet. She materialized her dagger and tried to slam it down into the yellow gem's chest but she brought a single hand up, managing to grip Wiss' thin wrists to hold the strike just inches from the target. Behind her she heard Fors' Energy Rifle fire several times, roaring as it cleaved a path into the Topazes down the other two paths, holding them back for just moments.

She gritted her teeth, her bangs dangling down and splayed out around her watering eye. Their gaze was locked. Emotions bared. Fury and desperation marred the 'delicate' Sapphire's face. The Topaz' eyes were wide as her lips quivered, Wiss seeing equal measures of shock and terror. An explosion rang out behind her but she couldn't look away. She forced the dagger's point down slowly as it parted the Topaz's form and dissipated her, dropping the short gem to the ground with a painful thud.

She forced herself to stand, willing her legs to ignore the aching and exhaustion, dagger gripped in trembling hands. Fors was backing up towards her as more Topazes approached, but that wasn't what she was staring at. She was locked onto the source of the explosion.

Yellow Diamond stood down the long corridor, looming both in size and presence despite the distance between her and the fight. Her posture, her expression. Those eyes. It was like a ripple of electricity had arced through Wiss as she met that glare. Just a flash of warning from her future sight. She grabbed Fors' hand and bolted as an arc of yellow energy blew a hole in the ground where they had just stood, sending the Topazes flying away from them- not that they would have caught them anyway. She opened her sight fully, focusing on her and Fors, together in the Writing Room. She could see that future. She latched onto it. She would never let it go.

Her sight opened up as branches opened and closed, the chaos weaving a route directly to what she wanted and then the noise just fell away. Left. Right. Three hundred meters. There was a large open window sealed with a destabilizer field. She skidded, releasing Fors' hand again a dozen meters early and summoning her dagger. As she slid she spun the blade around and drove it into the emitter. Her left hand slammed into the field just before it shut off, sending a painful jolt through her form as she lost both feeling and control in her left arm but she couldn't slow down.

"WISS! Are you-" She grabbed Fors waist and stepped up into the window, and she stepped up with her. Fors' mouth opened and closed a couple times before she got out "Can you float us in-" but she stopped herself. 'In your condition.' she wanted to ask.

She looked up to her, her wonderful engineer, eyes blurry. She had no idea. But this was the path of her vision. She couldn't start questioning now. She stepped into the air and they fell.

* * *

So much wasted time. She sat on her throne now, surrounded by guards of various types. Behind her more gems worked, busy repairing the hole she had blasted in the wall, overseen by several bismuths. So much wasted labor, all over some off-color defect. She stopped drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair, she was driving herself to aggravation.

"Call White. Mark the message as urgent. Tell her I'm coming to the Palace." Her Pearl saluted and immediately began typing, following her Diamond as she stood and started the long march to the Palace.

_._

The throne room was dim when Yellow entered. She gestured for Yellow Pearl to stay by the door before marching down the long hall to the thrones where White was seated. She forced herself to relax her fists as she approached the glowing Diamond. Her form was towering and elegant as always, her gaze piercing and cold despite the facade of her welcoming smile.

"Yellow, to what occasion do I owe the pleasure?" came her rolling greeting as if she had not already heard of the breakout somehow, like she always knew everything that occurred on Homeworld as soon as it happened it seemed.

She snapped, "One of YOUR Sapphires has gone defective and broke a rebel out of my Prison!"

White's head tilted just every so slightly, her expression unchanging. "And what type of gem was this off-color rebel?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly. 'And how do you know it was an off-color.' she thought but she breathed in. She needed to be calm. "A 'Forsterite' it called itself. Some off-color Peridot. Does it even matter White?"

"Mmm. How irregular." White might have been out of her own Head finally, but it was hardly an improvement as far as Yellow was concerned. It simply meant they had to endure her incessant politicking first-hand now, which was infuriating. She was sick of it.

"I am deploying my forces across Homeworld. They will scour every inch of the planet and I will make an example of this White Sapphire and her Off-Color cur." She declared, nearly spitting as she yelled. But White continued to remain, stagnant. Pondering.

Then White spoke with some delicacy. "Why is it, do you think, that such a high class gem would side with an off color?"

"Pink." she sneered. "Her game has gone too far, this is open rebellion. You and Blue can not deny it anymore-"

"Pink is gone." Yellow balked at White's tone. "My Starlight's name will not be tarnished further." She stared up at her silently as the smile returned to her face, albeit more strained than it had been. "Her son however, Steven. He is an issue. He is not our Pink-" she leaned forwards, making Yellow feel even smaller. "But he IS a Diamond. And he must learn what that means. His reckless transmission has lead to thousands of shatterings already." She turned her head and frowned, giving Yellow a side glance.

"What is it you have in mind?"

The smile returned, "I want you to take your forces to Earth to escort Steven back home to us." Yellow started to protest but was cut off again. "He must be unharmed. And you will see to it that his organic needs are met. Blue is likely more familiar with... those concerns." The Matriarch paused for a moment, her settling aura sending a chill down Yellow's back. "In the meantime, I shall deal with this defect within my own court. Personally."

* * *

_**16,000 years ago.**_

Her slow fall abilities were weak, and new to her. Just like her future sight. She was only able to slow her descent a little. She wasn't meant to be a White Sapphire. That's what they said anyway but she knew they were wrong now. When she emerged from her hole she scared the ordinary sapphires, who were already shaken as they tried to adapt to their future vision. The Kindergarteners had yelled about nearly ruining a whole batch of the rare gems, before she was dissipated.

They thought she was off-color.

Her gem was taken to Homeworld. They had to be sure after all. When she reformed for the first time she was nearly catatonic they said. Wouldn't respond to the testing. So they dissipated her again. Was she simply a colorless sapphire, or a true White Sapphire? They drilled her for hours in the vaulted chambers of White's Palace. Gems brought in, told to attack her. Trying to trigger the unique future sight her gem should possess. Other White Sapphires, the scant few there were, were brought in to examine her. To compare.

Finally the Musgravite overseeing her examination had to make the call.

"You nearly do match the others. _Nearly_." Her voice was all feigned sweetness with a venomous undertone. White Sapphire knew they were going to kill her then. "However you seem to lack the proper. Abilities. Required of a_ true_ White Sapphire." Musgravite waved a hand and several clear White Quartzes approached from their station at the door. She backed away, unable to even speak. Desperately trying to be what they wanted. Trying to see how they wanted. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in. And she ran. She didn't consider what she was doing she just acted.

She ran away from those Quartzes and that horrible Musgravite, onto the balcony. She stepped up onto the balustrade, bare foot arching and she pushed herself up and then over. She stepped into the air and she fell.

Her slow fall abilities were weak, and new to her. Just like her future sight. She could see now, she knew they were wrong because she could see. But it was too late. She was only able to slow her descent a little. The ground rushed up at her rapidly but the height of her fall gave her a long minute to come to terms with it. With her short, horrible life. And then she hit the ground.

_._

There was an endless expanse of white. Pure, clear white. The air around her felt fluid. She was warm. She was in her gem. She was alive. Why?

She floated in a daze for a long time. She didn't know how to control her form, what to do or how to do it. Where to even begin? She felt wrong. She let herself form with no conscious effort to stabilize a shape. Whatever she looked like would be wrong either way.

* * *

Forsterite sat cross legged there for a long time. Waiting. She didn't understand why really- it was a stupid idea. Whatever kind of gem this was she wasn't going to like Fors. She was perfect. A gleaming white gem without a speckle of discoloration or fogginess. Perfectly translucent. Not like her at all. Fors' own gem sat on her right shoulder, a dull desaturated olive green thing speckled with dots of faint blue. She was supposed to be a Peridot.

She knew this was a bad idea but she couldn't help herself. She'd seen the gem fall from the skies, seen her crash into the ground, her physical form twisted and broken before it dissipated. Maybe it was pathos or curiosity or a dangerous mixture of both but she needed to know about this gem.

She'd scooped the gem up and ran, fleeing deep into the tunnels under the Palace as the sounds of Shattering Robonoids buzzed overhead. The dim abandoned halls of the Under Palace were filthy but warm, and the Robonoids had never entered them that she had seen anyway. It was safety. It was home. And she was putting it in danger by bringing this gem here.

She stared down at the gem, watching the dim overhead lighting play off it. She'd been here alone for so long, hundreds of years at least. Hiding from Homeworld right under it's seat of power. Tinkering with the abandoned and forgotten pieces of machinery. Salvaging parts from some systems to repair others so she could control the doors and lighting.

Suddenly she was snapped back to the present by a glowing light- the gem was reforming! It drifted up off the ground as it lit up and rotated into place, a mass of white light forming with them gem on its belly. A short body with a billowing dress and her hair in a bun, then another form that made the dress look somehow deflated and with her hair down, then finally a tattered dress with wild hair. Fors scraped backwards still on her rear as the gem fell to the ground hard and collapsed in front of her without making any effort to catch herself.

The shorter gem pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and gazed across to Fors, nearly face to face and only a few feet away. 'What should I say? Oh stars umm.'

Fors tried to speak but her voice was croaky and she had to clear her throat before trying again, "Hello?" The white gem pushed herself backwards, scampering further away when Fors sat upright, so she paused and held her hands open. "Easy, sorry. Didn't mean to ah, scare you? I just ah. You, fell from the sky so I. Um." She was at a loss for words. It had been ages since she spoke to another gem. "My name is Fors- or Forsterite."

No response. Nothing. She was silent for a long time, Fors couldn't even see her face because her bangs hung over it as the smaller gem stared down. At her own gem? Maybe something was wrong, what if she was cracked- no it wasn't cracked earlier so what- No. She heard the white gem sniffling, whimpering. Her hands shook as she brought them up to her face and broke down. Fors had no idea what to do, she felt like her mind was just seizing up. Like when she tried to repair something and just couldn't figure out what to do next, her thoughts stalling. Stuttering. It made her feel useless.

They sat like that, together but apart, for a long time as the smaller gem wept. Eventually the crying slowed and she settled into silence, with only occasionally sniffling breaking the quiet. It must have been an hour before either of them moved, it certainly felt like it. But finally they did. The white gem ran her hand roughly trough her hair, brushing the mess locks of frizzy hair off her face to reveal her singular eye, reddened from the tears they had shed. And she spoke.

"Where am I?" came the hoarse and timid voice, barely louder than a whisper.

Fors swallowed before answering "We're under the Palace. Gems don't come down here anymore." She added hastily when the white gem flinched. "You ah. Fell from the sky."

She finally spoke up again, "Why am I here?"

"I- well you um. I brought you here after you fell, so you'd be... safe." She shifted back into her cross legged position, one which was soon mimicked by the white gem. "My name is Forsterite by the way- wait no I already said that didn't I?"

She thought she caught just the faintest hint of a smile at that, but it vanished when the white gem spoke. "I'm... White Sapphire."

She felt her jaw threatening to drop off. "Bwa- a what!? A White Sapphire!? Why were they trying to kill you, you're like worth a million of me!" It made so much sense, she knew she recognized that gem type but she didn't know why. A panic started to set in. What she just, a trap? A spy? Was she going to report her when she left?

White Sapphire looked down, tearing up again, "They think I'm.. d-defective. Off-Color." That. Made no sense.

"They what!? No no no that, that makes no sense why would they think that, you're perfect!" She felt her face warming, "I mean like, your cut and the translucence of your gem, its pristine. How could they ever think you're wrong like-" Me.

"I... wasn't meant to be a White Sapphire. I came from a Kindergarten of normal Sapphires... And when my future sight wasn't working th-they.." She started crying again. "I can't I just.. They're going to find me and shatter me." Fors didn't think she just moved, shuffling forwards on her knees and pulling the gem into a hug. She felt like her mind was stuttering again.

"Look we- It's... It's ok. Really. It'll be ok. You'll be safe. I won't let them." She swallowed hard, damn it. She couldn't guarantee that. She couldn't even guarantee her own safety down here. If they came looking for her, which they probably would given the rarity of her gem then...

"Why?" White Sapphire pulled away finally to look Fors in the eyes.

'Mind stutters. Why mind stutters.' She stared blankly for a moment before answering. "I have no clue."


	17. Chapter 17: All Washed Up

He scrolled through their messages with a flick of his thumb, slouched on the couch with his phone in hand. Lost in his own thoughts. He didn't even notice the Crystal Gems enter the living room for a few moments.

"Hey dude!" Amethyst called out when she entered and moved immediately to the fridge. Garnet and Pearl were right behind her caught up in their own conversation. Which promptly trailed off.

"Ah, Steven. Why are you still in your pajamas?" Pearl asked.

"I just woke up."

"It's noon though..."

He shrugged. "Casual Fridays?"

Pearl glanced over to Garnet then back. "It's Wednesday. Steven are you, alright?"

He looked up finally, putting on a smile. "Yea, why wouldn't I be?"

"Bruh no offense Steven," Amethyst paused to slurp down a burrito on one go. "But you look like the beanbag chair that time I rode it down the stairs and half the beads spilled out."

He didn't get the analogy at all. "Thanks...?"

Garnet and Pearl shared another look. It was like they could talk without speaking sometimes, all right over his head.

"We were just going to go test the new warps in the Galaxy Warp." Pearl folded her hands together and fidgetted. "Do you want to come with us...?"

"Naw I'm just. Taking a me day. Lazy day, you know." He swallowed hard, 'Besides I'd probably manage to screw that up somehow too anyway.' he thought.

"Alright, well if you need anything just text ok?" Pearl's gaze lingered for a moment before they turned to head for the warp pad. Even Garnet glanced back a moment before they warped away.

He slid down onto the couch again with a long groan. 'I am an idiot.' Of course they were noticing, how would they not he'd lived with them for over seven years. He pulled out his phone and stared at his and Connie's texts again. All the recent texts were from Connie, spaced out over the last few days. He should try to talk to her about this, she was smart and good with this sort of thing. But... she was still busy with cram school. She didn't need to be dealing with his issues right now. No. He needed to talk to someone though.

He scrolled down through his contacts. He'd added pretty much everyone on the boardwalk and then some to his phone. But right there near the top he saw his dad's photo. He sat up, realizing he hadn't gone to visit his dad in about a week. He hopped off the couch and grabbed his jacket, and almost called out to tell Spinel he was leaving before remembering she was at the construction site with Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis. Maybe he could swing by after he talked to his dad. He grabbed the car keys off the peg by the door and speed walked down the stairs as the front door slid shut behind him. His dad always had good advice for this stuff.

* * *

He climbed out of the Dondai and shut the door behind him before dropping the key into his jacket pocket. His dad barely lived a minute drive from the Temple which was nice... and really meant he had no excuse for not stopping by to see him more often. He really hadn't been in the mood to talk to anyone in general the last couple months though to be fair, not just his Dad. It was very cold out and the trees in town had shed their leaves- fall was in full swing already this October which made him wish he had actually gotten dressed before leaving but oh well.

He walked around to the back of the van, peering into the window of the Car Wash to see if Dad was in the office space. Didn't look like it. So he turned and knocked on the back doors.

Nothing. "Uhhhhg, dad come on." He knocked again and still got no response so he made his way around to the side of the van and banged his palms against it rapidly like a drum.

A second later the back of the van flung open and out spilled an empty soda can followed by Greg, who was rubbing his eyes. "Woah who- Oh, Steven."

Despite everything he chuckled, "Hey dad. I figured I'd stop by and chat for a little bit. Ah, if that's alright anyway."

"Oh- yea of course bud. Business isn't exactly boomin' here anyway heh." Dad sat down on the back of the van, leaving enough room for Steven to sit next to him which he did. The pillow and quilt were both out and flung to one side- 'Yea not very busy. He was taking a nap.' He snorted.

The van's heating was spotty at best even with the doors closed but there was still a faint warmth at his back as they sat and gazed at Beach City. Down the road a Quartz was out jogging and rounded a bend deeper into the town.

"Man things have really been moving fast lately huh? With that new gem town cropping up down the road. It's weird seeing so many gems around Beach City."

"Mhm." Steven nodded and glanced over. His dad was staring up at the clouds.

"So how have things been with the Gems? Busy I imagine?"

"Pretty much the usual. With all the extra hands around they think they've rounded up almost all the corrupted gems that were left." He sighed, "The new gems seeing what the Diamond's did first hand has cemented their views."

"You sound like you aren't so sure if that's a good thing or not."

He didn't respond for a moment, he didn't know how to word it really. "I don't know anymore." He admitted finally. "I thought I could fix the diamonds, help them be better people but I didn't really make any progress there."

"I don't think you should beat yourself up over them." Greg sighed "Rose didn't talk about them much but I didn't get the impression they were going to change their mind's that easily. I mean she must have tried too right?"

Steven knew he needed to talk about this, it was why he came in the first place but opening up was more difficult that he imagined.

"At least you don't have to shoulder so much of the work now though." Dad added, "You aren't exactly a normal kid but still all this, you fighting monsters and space tyrants and such. It was stressing me out."

That struck deeper than he thinks his dad realized. "S' not like I'm going on any missions any time soon anyway..." he grumbled.

"What's wrong?" His dad sounded troubled, finally cluing in that something was on Steven's mind. He felt torn, worse than before. Then finally it broke and he spoke up.

"I screwed up dad, I screwed up bad. I should have been able to talk the Diamonds around- at least Blue, she's more approachable than Yellow or White but-" Now that he had started he couldn't stop or slow down, the words just spilled out. "I almost got the Gems shattered, I almost got Connie killed-"

"Oh Steven, I-" His dad spoke up quietly but he kept going.

"And what do I do to make it right? How do I fix all that? Oh I don't know let's go start another Gem War!" He paused for a breath finally, blinking the tears out of his eyes before they could really form. "I just... I keep screwing everything up. It's no wonder the Gems don't want me going on missions anymore.."

That hung in the air for a long moment, in the silence. The he felt his Dad's hand on his shoulder and he asked quietly, "Did they say that, or is that how you feel?"

He let out a long sigh before admitting, "Feel." He looked up to his dad who gave a gentle smile. Steven got what he meant by that.

"I think you need to talk to the gems about this buddy. They just want you to be safe and happy, same as me." He patted his back, "I'm not the most knowledgable about all this gem war stuff but I know the gems well enough to know they don't blame you for any of this."

He knew all of this, but that wasn't really the point. He'd needed to vent to someone. Though hearing his own thoughts played back to him, what he thought he needed to do, was reassuring. He felt, better.

"Besides. If every porkchop were perfect," Greg grinned, "We wouldn't have hotdogs." 'No.' "Everyone makes mistakes every now and then, we just have to move on and make the best of..."

His dad kept rambling on but he tuned it out. 'The gems need a porkchop right now, not a mistake.' Greg didn't even notice the van's radio cut out as he trucked on with his pseudo-philosophical ramblings about mistakes and growing as a person, as Steven ran over the scenario in his head like he had a hundred times before. He knew the gems as well as they knew him after all. He knew what would happen. Amethyst would start trying to hang out with him more just to make him feel better, not because she wanted to. Pearl would start freaking out about everything and get super self-conscious again, blaming herself. And Garnet would probably give him some bullshit analogy filled advice that wouldn't make sense until after he'd already screwed up again which kind of defeated the point of her telling him at all. About as useful as his dad's.

"Yea sure." He finally interrupted, pulling out his phone to check the time, "Hey ah sorry to leave so suddenly but I just wanted to drop by for a little bit I've ah, got stuff to do in town."

"Oh, alright yea. Take care!" The van radio kicked back on as Steven walked to the Dondai.

"Yea, you too..."


	18. Chapter 18: It's Okay

The wind outside was picking up, the warm air from the ocean battled with the chill front from the Great North. Before long it would be snowing in Delmarva. Thankfully the house was kept comfortably warm thanks to the in-floor heating Bismuth had installed when the house was rebuilt. And beyond that, the trio were curled up on the couch as well. Spinel was lounging incredibly casually, slumped down on the couch with her legs curled up in her casual wear- t-shirt and shorts and socks. She'd been trying to perfect the ultimate 'casual mode' with recommendations from Amethyst. Further down the couch Steven and Connie were leaning against each other shoulder to shoulder.

"So how have you been?" Connie asked.

"I'm fine." He paused for a moment, surprised. That wasn't wholly a lie, he did feel... better. He didn't feel great, more neutral- maybe just burned out. But he didn't feel bad either, especially compared to recently. It was like he had reached a point where everything just evened out. Which worked for him honestly, it was better than before.

He noticed Connie was watching him carefully, but she smiled. "That's good." And it was genuine. What he didn't notice was Spinel also watching him out the corner of her eyes. She knew what he had been like first hand these last months more than Connie and perhaps she saw more clearly because of it, because a small frown creased her face at his words.

"So, what have you been up to recently? Besides all the normal gem stuff."

"I've been driving a lot." His dad's advice hadn't been perfect the last time they spoke, but his words from the birthday party rang truer. "Spending time on the road and just. Seeing stuff. Clearing my head and all that." It really had helped, even if he couldn't quite get used to sleeping in a car seat again since he'd lived with the Gems for so long in a real house. "What about you, what have you been doing besides school?"

She sat up slightly, "Mostly staying at home. I don't really get out much besides coming to visit in Beach City." He felt a little pang of guilt hearing that, neither of them really had a large social circle. "I've been helping the school council plan some stupid dance they are having before winter break."

"A dance?"

"Yea, I'm just making the fliers for it, someone else designed these pamphlets already so I'm just making it fit that style, nothing interesting. At least I don't have to deal with the decorations or anything."

"Decorations?"

"Yea the streamers and stuff. And uhhg all the popular pop music, it's terrible. The only part I really like is the snackbar, they always get holiday-themed sugar cookies and soda and stuff..." She trailed off with a huff. Then she looked over to Steven, his eyes seemed like they were sparkling.

"It's just like the movies." he said breathily. She stared at him for a couple seconds, it was impossible to miss how awestruck he was at the whole thing.

"O-Oh yea, I mean but I don't mind all that too much, it's not horrible." she completely 180'ed "Like I said the snackbar is great and the music... it's not to my taste but it's alright. Heh..." She tilted her head, "Hold on let me..." She dug into her bag and pulled out a school folder, then pulled a sparkly blue and white pamphlet out of that and began flipping through. Steven leaned further to look over her shoulder. There were pictures inside of sparkly streamers hanging from the ceiling, and blue and white snowflake pattern lights, and a plastic snowman- It was amazing. Finally she got to what she had been looking for.

"Ok yea! So. Um." Her face went very faintly red as she spoke, "So as long as I talk to the people in the office, we are allowed to bring someone even if they ah. Don't go to our school. So we could... go together? If you want to." She swallowed, feeling like an idiot for getting flustered over this. It was just some school dance. But when she looked over at Steven.

He practically had stars in his eyes as he nodded with a quiet. "Yes."

Her snort turned into a giggle, "God you are a dork you know that right? An adorable dork."

He sat up, brow furrowed "Wuh! No I'm not, you're the dork!" He said with mock indignation.

Spinel finally spoke up from across the couch, cupping her hands together and mock speaking as if she was yelling from another room, "You're both dorks!"

He gasped dramatically and started to act offended but Connie interrupted. "Hold on let me write the information down for you..." She grabbed a pen and scrap of paper from her bag and started jotting down the address, date and time.

"Don't you need to get the schools permission first like you said..?"

"Steven. I'm in the top of my class for my grade and in cram school. I don't think they are going to say no."

"Oh, right true."

As she finished writing she looked back up and tilted her head just slightly. "Mmm."

"What?"

"Do you have dress clothes? I think you do don't you? We're supposed to dress nice they said."

"Oh um. I think I still have my suit from Garnet's wedding but I'm too big for it. Maybe I could shapeshift to fit..."

Connie laughed "Steven no. You can't show up to a highschool dance shapeshifted into a thirteen year old."

"Oh yea. Right. Well... my dad can probably buy me something to wear if I don't have a nice shirt somewhere. I'll figure something out-" he picked up the paper and read the date. Connie's handwriting was very clear even though it was cursive. "I've got a month, shouldn't take that long right?"

* * *

_**Three and a half weeks later...**_

The house looked like a train had run through it. Steven was bent over his old clothes chest digging frantically and throwing shirts out onto the floor, searching desperately for anything nice to wear that still fit him. He'd been combing over the house all morning since he got back from his Dad's. Pearl was going to have a stroke when she saw the state of things.

"Hey, is this formal?" he turned when Spinel called out, she was standing half in his closet on top of a pile of discarded t-shirts. She held up a black tie with a golden dollar sign on it- part of his old Tiger Millionaire getup.

"No." He shook his head with a groan and went back to digging.

"Why can't you just go in the clothes you normally wear?" Amethyst called over for where she was splayed out on the foot of his bed, not helping of course.

"It's not fancy enough."

"Tsh. Bruh it looks fine I don't get what you're on about."

Spinel popped out of the closet again with wide eyes and held up a pink button-up shirt. "Ooo! I like this one!"

He shook his head again and turned back to his own search. "It's too small for me."

He had a lot of shirts considering he only really wore a couple. He needed to give some of this stuff away to a shelter or something at some point, clear out some space.

"... Can I have it?"

"Ha- What the shirt? I guess sure?"

Spinel bounced with a little squeak and pulled the shirt on, leaving it open and unbuttoned so her gem could breath, it was only a little short for her.

"Lookin' good." Amethyst snorted, "Hey Steven, why don't you see if Greg has something. He used to wear all kinds of stuff when he was still performing."

"I already did! All his shirts are too big for me still!" This was getting exhausting and stressful. He'd been all over the house twice now, checked through his dad's storage unit and the boxes in the Car Wash office. He'd even checked the thrift store in town but they didn't have anything nice that came even close to fitting-

"What about this!" he sighed, turning and expecting to see another zebra print shirt or something. But Spinel held up a dark, faintly brown button up dress jacket that Steven didn't recognize.

"Woah where was that?" He stepped over and looked it over, Spinel held it up dramatically for him- it was a little big but almost perfect.

She pointed to a cardboard box, smushed and crumpled at the bottom of the closet half-buried under old clothes. "There's a box under all this with all kinds of nice clothes in it."

"Dang, where did I...?" he flipped one of the flaps over and written in black was 'Andie'. "Oh, huh. We must have moved it from the barn when we cleared it out for Peridot." He shook the jacket off and pulled it on. Not too scratchy, needed a wash though. "I'll have to give this all back eventually but... I doubt he'd mind me borrowing a shirt for a bit."

He turned and saw Spinel posing in front of his mirror in her new shirt and trying on a pair of sunglasses which instantly slid off due to her lack of ears. He couldn't help but chuckle quietly, his stress receding. It was fine. Everything was going to go perfectly, he had nothing to worry about it seemed.


End file.
